Legacy
by AutumnDreamer
Summary: Edward is used to living life as a solitary teenager until he moves to Washington & reluctantly makes friends. When everything seems to be going right, his world is torn apart by a long-kept secret that leaves him questioning everything he’s ever known.
1. Another New Beginning

**DISCLAIMER:** I am not Stephenie Meyer (characters) or VC Andrews (plot inspiration via her book _Dawn_).

**Full Summary:** Edward is no stranger to new towns and new schools. In his seventeen years, he's been dragged all across the country by his parents, Peter and Liz Masen. With no siblings, no real friends, and no place to truly call "home," Edward gets used to living life as a solitary teenager--until he moves to Washington. There he meets the Cullens and their friends—a beautiful, brilliant group of people who are both rejected and revered by their classmates. Edward reluctantly finds himself growing to like these people more and more...and finds himself having friends and, for the first time, feeling like he belongs. But just when everything settles down, his world is torn apart by a long-kept secret and an ongoing betrayal that will leave him questioning everything he's ever known.

**Updated: 2/6/10:** Thank you to ToTheEights at for the new summary. Thanks to Bridget for being my beta. Thanks to Lee723, Annetteskitty, Forever_Liz, Megsly07, and BQOTFU for the opinions and pre-reading throughout. Thank you to all of you who have decided to start my story. It started back in October 2008 and is still ongoing. I keep getting more and more alerts from but not many reviews from new readers. I don't know where you keep hearing about my story, but I love to hear from my readers!

The first 10-12 chapters are a little rusty--I fully admit it. I had just started writing again and after about chapter 12 I think I got better or a tad more secure in my writing or something. I also switched to a different beta after chapter 7 and she's an English teacher.

_Legacy_ was nominated in the 2010 Winter Bellie Award's category for "Emmett You Want as Your Brother".

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My name is Edward Anthony Masen. I'm entering my senior year of high school in a little nothing town of Forks, Washington. Never heard of it? Neither did I until my father accepted a job at Forks High School. He's the new head janitor. Excuse me, Head Custodian. I stopped being embarrassed by my father's jobs long ago. It was a job that gave us a roof over our heads and brought food home to the kitchen table.

That was, if we had a kitchen table.

Our living arrangements weren't always the best. We always settled in a tiny, cramped apartment or a tiny, cramped house. There were times that we only had one bedroom so I had to sleep in the living room, on the couch.

That was, if we had a couch. If I was really lucky, the couch was a pull out and had that middle bar that dug into my lanky frame and gave me a backache while I slept.

I'm being sarcastic. I do that.

The important thing was that my family was together, however small of a unit we might be. My family consisted of myself, my father Peter and my mother Elizabeth. I know they both wanted better for me. They were both uneducated, blue collar workers who took whatever jobs they could. Dad frequently worked in menial labor jobs such as a custodian or groundskeeping. Mom always seemed to take jobs at a grocery store or restaurant.

We really lucked out with our house in Forks. We settled into a very nice mostly furnished two bedroom house. Well, it was nice to us anyway. It was a little battered and worse for wear. To be honest with you, it was the worst looking house on the block. I had my own bedroom but I didn't have a bed. I had a mattress on the floor that was more comfortable than a pull out couch. The realtor told my parents that the last people were evicted and had left all their belongings. It was going to take another two days to get a cleaning crew to clean and remove all the previous tenants' belongings. My mother told the realtor that we had nothing and that we could use any furniture that was left behind. The realtor, who must have pitied us, sent over a cleaning crew and said we could keep anything we wanted. We threw out a dresser in my room because it was full of mice shit. I febreezed the hell out of my mattress, put two sets of sheets on it and slept on top of the covers. It was heaven to have some privacy.

My parents lucked out and had a squeaky old bed frame and a mice shit free dresser. The living room had a couch, coffee and end tables, lamps that flickered when you turned them on and an old, lime green shag rug.

I felt like I had tripped back to the 70s but missed out on the trip itself.

The kitchen was also old, but everything worked. The oven matched the living room rug while the refrigerator was a dull, ugly yellow. The knobs on the sink came off if you turned them too hard. The bathroom looked horrible but everything worked. The toilet had rust stains on the inside. If we had a pet I wouldn't let them drink out of the toilet. The shower was moldy before the cleaning crew, and my mother, attacked it with a lot of elbow grease.

I think it freaked my parents out a bit that I was in my last year of high school. I had started mentioning college and it worried them. I knew they had no money for my college education. I really didn't expect their help. I knew they had a hard time just paying the rent and electric bills. I had anticipated getting a job, somewhere, doing something because I had no real skills, and attending a community college. I hoped to get a scholarship to help along the way. My grades were great, I had a 3.9 GPA.

Who the hell was I kidding? I might be able to struggle through a year or two of community college. After that? I was destined to be a blue collar worker, just like my parents. I had dreams of being a doctor, a concert pianist or a composer.

They were stupid, fucking dreams. That's all they were ever going to be. I was stuck and I knew it. I didn't have to fucking like it though. I accepted it nevertheless.

"Edward, you're going to be late for the bus!"

I snapped out the fog I was in. Grabbing my sweatshirt and backpack, I left the confines of my bedroom. The bathroom was next to my room and my parents' room was on the opposite side of the short hallway. I turned right, took a few steps and found myself in the kitchen.

I threw my backpack on to the kitchen table and pulled the navy blue sweatshirt over my head. I was not dressing to impress anyone at my new school. It was already the end of September. Cliques had formed and friendships were made. I was just there to learn, maybe finish the school year and get the hell out of there.

Fuck, if I wanted to impress anyone at school I couldn't anyway. My clothes were well worn, sometimes too small for my tall frame and desperately needed to be replaced.

My mother shoved two pieces of toast wrapped in a paper towel at me. Mmm, breakfast.

"As soon as your father is paid I can get some better groceries." Mom looked at me apologetically. "I'm going to apply at the Thriftway today. Maybe they give employee discounts."

"Good luck, Ma." I gave her a quick kiss on the cheek and headed to the front door.

"Thanks, Edward. Have a good day at school!"

I grabbed my gray wool coat and closed the front door behind me to find my father sitting in our station wagon. "Sure you don't want a ride? After all, we're going to the same place." He half smiled at me out the crooked window.

I quickly weighed my options. I could be stuck in a cramped bus with a bunch of hormonal, idiotic teenagers that I didn't know and didn't want to know. Or, I could ride in an old decrepit, rusty station wagon with dad and have everyone know my father worked at the school.

Oh, what the hell. I jumped in the passenger seat.

I unwrapped my toast and was surprised to find butter and strawberry jam on it. The slices were faced together, like a sandwich.

"Oh, jam." I stupidly muttered out loud. I took a bite and was surprised that it tasted quite good.

"Tasty, huh?" My dad continued to look straight toward at the road. "Thanks for not giving your mom a hard time. It's killing the both of us that we don't have a lot of groceries right now."

"S'kay." I told him before taking another bite. "Do you know if I qualified for free or discounted lunch?"

"I believe you qualified for free lunch." He shrugged his shoulders. "When you go to the office they should have the information for you. If you have any problems just come and find me. I have a few bucks on me just in case. I don't want you to go hungry."

The rest of the ride was spent mostly in silence. I took in the scenery while my father drove. We reached the school and he parked in the employee lot. Dad thought he should have dropped me off somewhere else, somewhere less embarrassing. I told him it didn't matter. And it didn't, the kids would know that he was my father one way or another. It always happened.

I walked around to the main entrance and through the maze of teenagers that had congregated on the sidewalk. The whoosh of the airbrakes on a bus in the bus loop startled me out of my day dreaming. I found the main office and was instructed to go to the guidance office. Once there, I received my class schedule. I had to ask about lunch and my counselor rechecked my file and dug out a lunch card for me. If I had any problems with it, I was to tell the cafeteria staff that I just received it today and I may not be in the system. I was to tell them my guidance counselors name but once I walked out of the office I no longer knew it.

Most of the morning passed by slowly and methodically. My classes bored me for the most part since I had already done some of the work. I wish I knew what the other kids thought once I walked into the classroom. I had to go directly to the teacher's desk and tell them I was the new kid. In English, I walked down the aisle to a desk in the back. One girl looked at me and I heard her whisper, "Fresh meat."

Okay, maybe I didn't want to know what was on the minds of the kids at Forks High.

I lucked out and managed to get into Black and White Photography 101. The school must not have the money for the equipment for color photography because it wasn't in the curriculum. It was fine with me. I was probably never going to need to develop my own film or come across a dark room ever again.

When I entered the Photography classroom I noticed it must also double as a shop class. The room had the familiar flat, hard wood topped tables that had deep cuts and grooves in them. There were different tools set in the back of the room like a jigsaw. I don't know. They all looked the same to me. They all took a blade, cut into wood and made noise, that's all I knew. Old, hand held tools were fashioned to the walls. The room was a DYI's wet dream.

I spoke with the teacher, Mr. Moorhead who instructed me to a table in the back row. He pointed to a tall, goofy but good looking kid with dark slightly curly hair. I was tall – six foot two – but he had a few inches on me, maybe a total of five. He had on a football jersey and was farting around with a camera. It was a very expensive looking 35 millimeter camera which I immediately knew didn't belong to the school.

"Hey, I'm supposed to sit back here with you." I told the jock as I pulled out the stool next to him.

He stopped fiddling around with the camera and looked at me. "That's cool. Names Emmett, you?"

Even without the camera, I could tell Emmett's family had some money. He was dressed in a pair of dark denim jeans that looked new and perhaps had a designer label attached to them. His black Nike sneakers looked brand new. His maroon EastPack backpack, which sat on the table next to him, looked brand new. You see the trend?

"Edward."

"Cool. Have a seat, bro." He motioned to the stool I had grabbed. "Moorhead is about to give us a lecture on apertures." Emmett put the camera back into its case. "I just want to start taking pictures. Hey, you can be my lookout while I sneak into the girls shower! Now, that'd be some great photography."

My eyebrow was crooked at him but I didn't say anything.

Emmett cleared his throat. "Damn, still on the lookout for a lookout."

"You know that after you turn twenty-one you're not legally suppose to be here, right?" I asked warily. In past schools I knew of students that were twenty-one. The year that they turned that age they had to leave at the end of the school year. Whether they technically graduated or not.

Emmett snorted. "Wait, you think I'm twenty-one or older? I wish the bouncer of _Twilight_ thought I was twenty-one. I can't get in that club!"

"You're not twenty-one?" I asked wide eyed. Emmett didn't look like he belonged in high school.

"Dude, I'm eighteen. You?" He was one of those kids that always looked older than their age. I was slightly surprised that he didn't get into whatever club he was talking about.

"I'm seventeen."

"I've been told that I was held back in kindergarten." Emmett shrugged. "I don't remember."

I couldn't help but laugh. "What? You couldn't color inside the lines? Did you forget to go potty too many times? Did you not play well with others?"

At first, Emmett just stared at me. Oh, great, I pissed him off. My first day of school and I'm dead meat. Then something I didn't expect happened. Emmett's face suddenly erupted into a huge shit eating grin. His body started to shake with laughter. Other students turned in our direction to see what was going on.

"Alright class, it's time to start." Mr. Moorhead stated from the front of the room. "Simmer down back there Cullen."

Emmett extended his hand to me. "Emmett Cullen."

"Edward Masen." I took his hand and tried not to wince as he shook mine. The kid was strong.

"You're alright, kid." Moorhead shot a look in our direction. Emmett whispered. "I think this is going to be an interesting school year."

If he only knew.

xXxXxXxXxXx

I sat in the corner at a table by myself at lunch. It was much easier this way. I finished my miserable excuse for a piece of pizza and chugged down the last of my milk. I had planned on keeping my head down in a book and wait for the forty minutes to pass by. Fate is a cruel and miserable bitch and had other ideas for me.

Emmett walked into the lunch room with his arm around a cute brunette girl. Her chocolate brown hair went mid-way to her back in little ringlets. She was wearing a short pleated and plaid skirt with a white short sleeved button up shirt. She looked to be about five foot, five inches or so. You know, the not too tall, not too short type of deal.

If you put some pigtails in her ears, thigh highs and tie the ends of the button up shirt together and she'd be every man's private school wet dream. I could see her gyrating down the hallway with dancers, singing that god awful Britney Spears song. I wanted to wipe the image of the video – Britney's and Bella's version – out of my head, and fast.

They were quickly joined at a table by two blondes – one a girl, one a boy – and another short girl with short spiky black hair. They were the epitome of the high school in crowd. At least, they looked like it to me. I was surprised that Emmett had even bothered to speak with me in Photography.

I was sitting there, at my table in the corner, and I sensed that I was being stared at. I looked up and thought I caught Emmett's girlfriend – the brunette – moving her head from my direction. I was trying to forget about her staring at me when I sensed that someone was in front of me.

It was her.

She was leaning over the table across from me. Her white shirt, the top two buttons undone, billowed out some, allowing me a view of some incredible cleavage. I shook my head and made myself look at her face. She knew where I had been looking and held her arm in front of her shirt. Her eyes matched her chocolate brown hair. Her pink lip glossed lips held a smile and I think it was for me. Although, I couldn't figure out why.

"Hi, my name is Bella. Why don't you join me and my friends at our table?"

I glanced around her and they were all looking in our direction. The girl with the short, spiky hair waved. Emmett cupped a hand around his mouth and yelled out across the cafeteria, "Don't make me come and get you, Eddie! Get your ass over here!"

One of the monitors in the cafeteria went over to Emmett to give him a warning. I nervously ran my fingers through my copper colored hair and met Bella's eyes. "Um, that's okay, I'm fine here."

"Emmett will come over here and drag you back to our table." She smiled at me. I melted a little bit inside. "He wasn't kidding about that. Come on!"

Bella picked up my backpack and took two small steps backwards. "Come on!" She repeated and flicked her head back toward their table.

Grabbing my book, I left my seat and followed Bella across the cafeteria. I took my bag that she had slung over her shoulder and plopped down in the seat next to her. She pointed across the table, starting with the spiky haired girl and then the blondes. "That's Emmett's sister Alice – she's a junior. Those are the wonder twins, Jasper and Rosalie Hale. You know Emmett and I'm Bella Swan."

"Hi Edward!" They all chimed in together. I felt like I was in a bad episode of _Cheers_. And soon enough, everyone in the stinking little rinky dink town of Forks would know my name and everything about me.


	2. The Cullen Clan

**Warning:** Go to the bathroom first and grab a drink. Maybe even a snack. This is a _long_ chapter. It's over 5,000 words and 11 pages in Word. I felt it necessary to keep this all together and not break it up.

A big old hug and big thanks to Becky for putting up with me and being my beta.

It seems that was updating the site when some of you commented on the first chapter. Because of this, some of your reviews were emailed to me but not kept on the site.

Thank you for reading and please comment!

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own _Twilight_ or _Dawn_. Stephenie Meyer created the characters and V.C. Andrews gave me some storyline inspiration.

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**Chapter 2: The Cullen Clan**

I awkwardly sat in the cafeteria at a table with Forks High's in crowd. To say I was uncomfortable was an understatement. They were nice enough but I just didn't fit in. At least I didn't feel like I fit in with them. I tried to keep mostly to myself, even with five others surrounding me. They talked to themselves and I observed and listened. They tried to draw me into their conversations but I was hesitant and offered little information. I had gathered that Alice and Jasper were together. Alice confirmed that fact when she announced that she and Jasper were going to make out for the last ten minutes of the lunch period. Jasper obediently followed behind Alice, out of the cafeteria, like an eager puppy.

It seemed as if Rosalie and I were the odd ones out since we were both single. There was something about the way she looked at Emmett every so often that made me think she had a crush on him. She had a dreamy look on her face and her blue eyes held some kind of ache in them that I couldn't fathom. I couldn't blame Rosalie for having a crush on Emmett. I'm a guy and I think he's good looking. I wondered how long Rosalie had her unrequited love for Emmett.

Emmett seemed like he was the leader of the gang. He sat with his arm around the back of Bella's chair most of the time. They'd joke around with each other, calling each other names – Bella's favorite name for Emmett was doofus – and he'd attempt to muss up her hair. She liked to cross and uncross her legs and move her skirt ever so slightly upward to get his attention. I don't know if it got his attention but hell, it got mine.

Alice and Jasper's relationship seemed more passionate and new. I thought that Emmett and Bella were more comfortable with each other and had been together for a long time. No wonder Rosalie had a dreamy look on her face. She must have realized some time ago that she'd never get the man that she fantasized about.

Of course, these were my observations as an outsider looking in. I've observed a lot in my life. Most of the time I was never in one place long enough to find out if any of my observations were correct or not.

"Eddie, whatcha doing after school?" Emmett peeked around Bella to ask me.

"Um, please don't call me Eddie." I informed him of my name preference before he shortened it even further to Ed. "I don't have any plans. Just going home and doing homework I guess."

"Why don't you come over to my place with the gang?" Bella had stopped fussing with her hair and was looking at me, the both of them waiting for my response.

"I should ask my parents and make sure it's okay." I fully expected them to make fun of me for double checking with my parents. It's not the cool thing to do.

Instead, Emmett simply shook his shoulders and everyone else kept quiet. "If it's okay with the 'rents, meet us by the flag pole after school. If you aren't there by the time the buses start to roll we'll take it as a sign that you're a no show."

We were all getting ready to leave when I heard Bella mumble something about Biology. She was mostly glad that she had Bio after lunch and not before. She wasn't sure which was really worse – seeing the guts of an animal and then having to eat or vice versa. Once she put it that way, I wasn't so sure either.

"You have Bio next?" I asked her curiously.

"Yeah, AP with Banner." She rolled her eyes when she said the teacher's name. I hadn't heard anything about him and wondered if he was a jackass.

I smiled stupidly at her and reached for my schedule that was stuffed in my back pocket. Taking a look at it, I confirmed my suspicions. "Me too."

"Yes!" Bella actually jumped up and down in the middle of the cafeteria. She reached for me from the side and wrapped her arms around my middle, placing her head on my shoulder. She felt nice and warm and soft against me. "My savior!"

Bella continued to stand too close to me but unwrapped her arms from my body. She slinked one arm through mine. "Can you _please_ be my lab partner?"

I could have sworn she batted her eyelashes at me. Emmett started laughing and Bella flashed him what I'm sure would be considered 'the evil eye'.

"Please save me from Mike and Tyler." Bella's head was back on my shoulder and she was looking up at me. "Please!"

"You have two lab partners?" I asked confused.

"There's an odd number of students so Banner put the three of us together." Bella wrinkled her nose at me. "It totally sucks ass."

Not only was Bella beautiful and smart but she was eloquent too.

"Mike and Tyler have been after Bella since the sixth grade." Emmett informed him. He had a smug look on his face. Almost as if he was saying 'But I'm the one that got her'. "They constantly ask her out. Between the two of them, they can't seem to buy a clue."

"Douche bags." Bella muttered. "What do you say? Partners?"

She looked so happy at the thought of having me as a lab partner. Her eyes were bright and sparkling. A huge, genuine smile was plastered across her lips. "Sure, why not?"

"Thank you, thank you! You won't regret it!" She sounded like a kid who had just opened the Christmas present they wanted the most. It was then that she surprised the hell out of me.

She kissed me.

Sure, her lips landed on my cheek but she kissed me.

My heart started racing faster. My face felt extremely hot. My mouth was dry. I was a total mess. Bella turned me into a big pile of goo. What the hell was this girl doing to me? Better yet, what the hell was _Emmett's girlfriend_ doing to me?

"Come on; let's go before we're late." Bella grabbed my right hand and started dragging me out of the cafeteria. She needs to stop touching me like this. I could get very used to it. "I want to talk to Banner before class starts so he doesn't stick me with Mike or Tyler. That would be just as bad as both of them."

"You two have fun!" Emmett called after us, laughing. "Don't do anything I wouldn't do!"

I heard Bella mumble something about making out in the back row during a movie but didn't question her. We made it to Bio in time to talk to Banner who agreed to let us be lab partners. I swear, Mike and Tyler gave me the dirtiest looks when we passed by. I thought I heard one of them growl at me on the way back to our table. Oddly enough, the table Bella led us to was in the very back of the room. It made me want to question her earlier remark to Emmett.

Bella asked to see my class schedule and was happy to find that we also shared last period AP American History together. She told me that Jasper was also in the same class but later on he was a no show. That ticked her off some because he didn't mention skipping.

Since we were together for last period, Bella had wanted to accompany me to my locker. I think she really wanted to make sure that I got my ass to the flag pole. I don't remember what I said that made her go ahead without me. My locker – conveniently enough – is by the Custodian's office. Dad was inside, about to leave to clean up a mess from a stopped up toilet, when I found him. He said it was okay with him if I went over to a friend's house. He was the one that used the word friend. I think he was as shocked as I was. I had to be home by ten. He reminded me that it was a good thing that I had found him – our phone line wasn't due to be turned on until tomorrow.

I met Emmett, Bella and Rosalie at the flag pole just in time. Emmett had gotten a text message from Alice that told him to go ahead without her and Jasper. Rosalie had thought about leaving her car behind for the two of them but Emmett said not to. He said that it would be extremely hilarious that they had to take a late bus home.

Rosalie had some type of shiny red convertible. It looked extremely expensive. I thought Bella would have ridden with Rosalie but she stuck with Emmett and me. Emmett had a massive black Jeep that was meant to go "off roading". I had to help Bella into the passenger side and almost had to ask Emmett for a boost myself. That would have been totally embarrassing and very unmanly of me.

Bella sat in the back and leaned forward to talk to Emmett most of the way to his house. His family lived only about fifteen minutes away by car. He pulled into a driveway that was almost hidden by trees. If it wasn't for the mailbox, I would have never anticipated the driveway. The blacktopped path winded back for maybe a mile before it opened up to a clearing where I saw the biggest house that I've ever seen in my entire life.

It was a unique shade of beige and looked to be at least three stories high. I had expected to see a house that resembled a mini-version of the White House with textured columns that met at the roof of the house. There were no statues of lions or a Greek god littering the lawn. Even though the house was massive, the property wasn't over done. It was almost like they decided to clear the forest and just put a huge house up. The landscaping consisted of a neatly trimmed lawn, bushes and some flower beds.

"Yeah, it's overtly huge. We don't need all the room. Hell, I get lost in the place sometimes." Emmett said suddenly. I'm sure he was lying about getting lost in his own house for my benefit.

I realized we were stopped. I must have been staring. "I would need a GPS system to find my way back to the front door."

"Now, that's an idea I never thought of!" Emmett was starting to get down from the drivers side. I scrambled to get out the passenger side and tried not to fall on my ass at the same time. I noticed that Bella came over to the passenger side to get out. I got a flash of some kind of black panties as she stood on the top step.

Oh, holy shit. She was wearing a black lace thong.

I felt my dick twitch in my pants.

"Edward, a little help?" She asked, holding her skirt back so I couldn't see all the goods beneath it. Little did she know that I already had gotten a very satisfying preview. She threw her bag down to me and I caught it, pulling it on my shoulder with mine.

Bella turned around and climbed down backwards, trying to hold her skirt in place at the same time. When she reached the last step she was too high off the ground to see where she was. I placed my hands on her hips and she slid down my body, holding onto the Jeep, until her hips were even with mine.

I felt my dick twitch in my pants. Again.

Thankfully, she didn't linger because the image of bending her over, pulling down her black lace thong and fucking her senseless right there against the Jeep flashed across my mind.

This girl is going to be the death of me. I tried to think of other things so I wouldn't have a raging hard on.

We joined Emmett on the driver's side and then proceeded to walk toward the house. Emmett glanced at me and had a look on his face that I couldn't decipher. I could only hope that he didn't know that his girlfriend was pushing her cute and firm ass against my dick just a minute ago. Even though he was being nice to me, Emmett reminded me of a grizzly bear. I'm sure he could tear me limb to limb or just rip me a new one.

Rosalie pulled up in her car as we were entering through the front door. Immediately in front of us was an open kitchen and dining area to the right with a large living room on the left. The entire kitchen was as big as the house my family lived in.

Emmett went to the huge stainless steel refrigerator and grabbed four water bottles. He threw one at Bella and myself but placed Rosalie's on the counter. She must not want to chip a nail.

"Who's got homework?" Emmett winced.

We all nodded and groaned. "Let's go get it done so we can goof off."

I followed everyone to what I gathered was a sitting area behind the living room. It was an open space with lots of comfortable looking couches and chairs placed aimlessly around. There was a flat screen TV hanging on the wall farthest to the right. Below it there was a sort of TV stand which housed what looked like to be video game consoles. A large glass wall gave a spectacular view to the large back yard. If Forks was a sunny place I could say that the glass wall brought sunlight into the room. But I couldn't say that.

We sat there mostly in silence, getting our work done. I had expected that they would want to goof off right away. I thought I'd end up trying to get my work done at the last minute whenever I got home. I was sitting on one end of a couch, trying to read _Of Mice and Men_ for English class. Bella was on the other side of the couch leaning over the same book. We weren't in the same class but we must be following the same curriculum.

Bella sighed and swiftly slid the rest of her body onto the couch. She snuggled down into the pillows on her end and swung her feet – not to mention part of her beautiful looking calves - up onto my lap.

"Comfortable?" I asked while sneaking a look of her out of the corner of my eye.

"Much better now, thanks!" She replied cheerily.

"Shhhh!" Emmett scolded us from his place opposite us. "I hate calculus."

I offered him help but Emmett insisted he'd get it. He just needed total concentration and quiet. Rosalie continued to write in her notebook. Bella and I went back to our books. Or at least I tried to. What was lying on the couch so close to me was far more enticing than reading about George and Lennie for what must be the tenth time. That red and green plaid and pleated skirt had risen ever so slightly on her legs when she laid down. I couldn't concentrate. I stared at the pages, pretending to read. I made sure to turn the pages every now and then. Hopefully, I could pass a pop quiz if we so happened to have one in class tomorrow.

I didn't even realize that I was holding my book in my right hand while my left on was across Bella's leg, lazily rubbing random patterns with my thumb. I chastised myself for my rude behavior. When did I get so bold? I immediately gripped my book with both hands. If I didn't, I was sure that my hands would wonder mindlessly and go up Bella's skirt and into the Promised Land. I don't think Emmett wouldn't appreciate it if I shoved my fingers inside Bella's pussy and started to finger fuck her on the couch.

No, I'm sure Emmett wouldn't appreciate that.

I didn't want Mr. or Mrs. Cullen to come home to find my blood splattered all over their gorgeous off-white walls. Can you say horrible first impression?

Emmett closed his math book shut with a loud thud. "I'm done with the bitch that is calculus!"

The front door opened and slammed and I craned my neck to see Alice and Jasper making their way over to us. "Emmett!" She screamed loud enough to wake the dead.

"Yes, darling little sister?" He had a smirk on his face.

"You bastard! We had to take the bus!" Alice was pointing one of her delicate little fingers at her brother. "You know how much I hate to take the bus!"

"You two shouldn't have gotten detention then!" Emmett spat back and stuck his tongue out at her.

Jasper was lying across the back of the couch Bella and I were on. "It was totally worth it."

Bella had thrown her book onto the coffee table. She was leaning up on her elbows, her cleavage pressing tightly against the button up shirt. I was secretly wishing for a button to pop. "What did you two do now?"

"Brandmire caught us in the boys bathroom by the gym." Jasper supplied with a sigh. "That wouldn't be too bad in itself. However, Alice's back was up against the wall with her legs wrapped around my waist and we were making out. We were in the office all afternoon." Jasper had a satisfied smirk on his face.

"Alice's legs were around your waist?" Bella chuckled. "You two need to get a room."

"Bella, honey, they did. They just fucked it up. Jasper, you're supposed to get a _bed_room, not a _bath_room. I can't believe you got caught by the Assistant Principal." Emmett started to put his books away when Alice jumped on his back and wrapped her arms around his neck. He got up from his seat with her dangling from his back. "I think I have a monkey on my back."

"It was the only available room we could find at the moment." Jasper sat up to watch Alice still hanging from Emmett's back. He leaned over the couch and tickled a spot on Bella's stomach where her shirt had risen up.

"What's with the wall action?" Bella asked and swatted Jasper's hand away.

"I love my little midget." Alice growled at him from across the room. "There's over a foot in height difference between us. It bothers my back if I have to bend down to meet her for a ten minute make out session. It's much easier to just give her a boost."

"Right!" Rosalie interjected. She had a huge grin on her face. "Not to mention that your naughty bits are all even when you're in that position."

"Hell yeah!" Alice yelled the words into Emmett's ear. It didn't seem to faze him in the least. "Edward, help me down, huh? The air is getting a little thin up here."

I went over to make sure Alice didn't fall backwards when she let go of Emmett's neck. She surprised me when she wrapped her arms around me to enfold me into a hug. "I'm glad you came to hang out!" Jasper's little midget was spunky. She jumped up and I think she was trying to reach my cheek with her lips. I leaned down and indeed, she planted a kiss on my cheek. I wondered if Rosalie would find an excuse to kiss me now. "Have you played _Guitar Hero_? The boys love it. Or, if you rather, we have the Wii system."

"I haven't played either, so it doesn't matter to me." I had never been that into video games. We never had the money for a decent system. Up until last year I had an ancient Nintendo 64 that still played Mario Brothers if you blew into the cartridge the right way. The game would freeze all the time so I finally gave it a proper funeral and threw it in the trash.

Emmett and Jasper decided to show me a game on the Wii system while the girls went into the kitchen for girl time. I could see why the Wii could get addicting. I quickly got used to the controllers but still wasn't any good at the bowling game. I was surprised that I was having so much fun. Correction – that I was _letting_ myself have so much fun.

Mrs. Cullen came home and greeted us. She insisted that I call her Esme. I told her that I found her home very beautiful. Esme thanked me and mentioned that she owned her own interior design business. Impressive. Then she went upstairs to change and settled in the kitchen, preparing dinner. I had told Emmett that I'd better leave but didn't know where I was in correlation to my own home. I didn't want to intrude on their family time together.

"Ah, nonsense." Emmett yelled from the sitting area. "Hey Ma, can Edward stay for dinner?"

Alice, who was in the kitchen with the rest of the girls, poked her head around the corner. "Mom said of course and not to yell, you don't live in a cave, you heathen!"

It seemed that Esme was used to guests most nights for dinner. Emmett told me that Bella's father was the Chief of Police and often worked the night shift. Bella spent so much time at the Cullen house that she called Emmett's parents mom and dad. Jasper and Rosalie were there almost as much. Jasper was there slightly more than Rosalie because he and Alice had been dating for two years now. My first impression that they were a new couple was totally wrong. It surprised me that they were all over each other as much as they were.

Mr. Cullen came home a few minutes later. He greeted me and also told me to call him by his first name which was Carlisle. He escaped upstairs to take a shower before dinner was served. I think I'd want to take a shower after being in a hospital with germs all day.

We all fit around the large rectangular kitchen table. I sat next to Emmett who was sitting next to Carlisle with Jasper on my other side. Rosalie, Bella and Alice sat across from us. Carlisle was at one end of the table while Esme was at the other. I felt like I was in an episode of _The Brady Bunch._ Esme had made chicken, mixed vegetables and baked potatoes. I don't know what she did to the chicken but it was delicious.

"So, Edward, how did you meet everyone?" Carlisle inquired before lifting his fork to his mouth.

"Emmett and I have Photography together and I was told to sit with him." I minded my manners and waited to take another bite of food. "Then he threatened me with my life if I didn't join them in the cafeteria."

Emmett cleared his throat. "You lie! I didn't threaten your life."

"Okay, so you sent Bella to ask me to join you. Then you yelled across the cafeteria to join you or you'd drag me over." Carlisle smiled and tried not to laugh. I could see he was used to Emmett's antics. "I have AP Biology with Bella and AP American History with Bella and Jasper."

Emmett shook his head. "It's so sickening, you three and your advanced placement courses."

"You're just jealous!" Bella sang from across the table. She winked at me.

The inquiry into my life continued. This time, it was courtesy of Alice. "Where are you from, Edward?"

"All over." I could see that everyone was confused by my answer. "I was born in California but I don't remember being there. I've lived in fifteen states so far."

"Fifteen states?" Esme gasped. "Why, you must barely finish a year in one school."

I was now highly embarrassed by the attention I was receiving. I pushed the food around on my plate.

Emmett elbowed me from the side. "What other states have you lived in?"

"Um, Texas, Florida, South Carolina, Delaware, New Jersey, New York, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Okalahoma, South Dakota, Arizona, Utah and now Washington." I rattled off the states, unsure if I named them in the correct order. I looked at a map one time and realized we had kind of made a gigantic crooked and messed up U during our tour of America.

Carlisle sensed that I was uncomfortable with all the attention focused on me. "That's enough cross-examination of Edward for tonight." He announced before digging back into this food. I was grateful.

Everyone rinsed their own plate and put them into the dishwasher. Emmett mentioned watching a movie and Esme told him to take us up to his room. Emmett's bedroom was on the second floor. His room was on the side of the house with the large glass wall. A huge king sized bed stood in the right hand corner with a dresser and closet. There was another door near his dresser which was slightly opened. I assumed it was a private bathroom. The left side of the room was a mini entertainment area. There were two plush leather couches, another flat screen TV and a music system with tons of CD's and DVD's scattered around.

"Excuse the mess." Emmett asked. I wasn't sure what mess he was talking about. He and Bella flopped down on one couch. Jasper hit the floor with some cushy pillows while Alice browsed Emmett's DVD collection for a movie. I sat at one end of the other couch.

Rosalie sat down next to me and grabbed a pillow. "Do you mind if I lay down?"

"No, should I sit on the floor?"

"You don't have to do that." Rosalie proceeded to lay the pillow on my lap and placed her head on it. She stretched out across the couch. This girl could be a model. She was wearing tight jeans and high heels. I never saw anyone wear high heels to high school. Her blonde hair cascaded over the pillow and onto my lap. She looked up at me. "Is this okay with you?"

"Sure." I lied. I had a beautiful girls head on my lap. I was uncomfortable. I was nervous. I was uncomfortably nervous. I hoped I wouldn't drool in her hair.

Alice finally made her pick and we watched the movie but I didn't remember a lot of it. I had a hard time concentrating with Rosalie's head in my lap. I was thankful she thought to use a pillow.

After the movie Rosalie left with Jasper. She had to practically drag him off of Alice after they had kissed goodbye for the twentieth time. Emmett drove me and Bella home and dropped her off first. I could tell that her family was not as well off as the Cullen clan but better off than mine. No one had mentioned Bella's mother, only her father. I could only assume that was because Bella's mother wasn't in the picture. I would think that Mr. Swan would make a decent living as Chief of Police. He'd probably fall into the middle-class category. Bella was average and yet she hung out with Emmett and his crew.

I really had to stop thinking about class distinction. I was being a low-income snob.

I had to help Bella out of the Jeep again. Her body slid down mine as it did before. This time, I swear she rubbed her ass against my crotch. Fuckin' tease.

I tried to get Emmett to drop me off at a nearby corner but he wouldn't hear of it. He fully intended to drop me off in front of my embarrassing, paint peeling mess of a house. Emmett didn't say a word about our place when he pulled up to it. You can't say Emmett isn't tactful.

Mom and Dad were on the couch, Mom's head leaning on Dad's shoulder, in the living room. They were practically asleep when I came in. I woke them up to tell them I was home and Mom asked me how my day was. I gave her the very short and condensed version.

"It was good."

She gave me a kiss on the cheek and my father gave me a one-armed hug. "Get some sleep, Edward." She warned me, before dragging my father off the couch and toward their bedroom. I wished they hadn't waited up for me. Then again, I didn't have a key to the house yet.

I washed up quickly in the bathroom and entered my bedroom. I stripped down to my boxers and then threw on an old pair of sweat pants that were too short on me. Grabbing the crocheted blanket my mother had made, I placed it over me and laid down.

This was the first time in years that I had let anyone besides my parents in to my life. I stopped trying to have friends long ago. It wasn't worth the hurt and the pain. I'd find myself in a new school and nine months to a year later we'd leave. The others – the past friends – they'd promise to keep in touch but I never heard from them. Eventually, it got to the point where I stopped trying. I put up a shield and hid in my own little bubble at school, waiting for the school day to be over. The weeks and months quickly blended into each other. Before I knew it, it was time to move again. I was the kid that no one remembered at the beginning of the next school year.

And yet, today, I did the one thing I hadn't done in at least eight years. I had let five strangers into my life. And I knew without a doubt, that sooner or later, I was going to regret my asinine decision. I wasn't sure if my departure would affect them in any way but I knew it'd affect me very deeply. There was no one to blame but myself.

* * *

**Stupid Fact:** According to the Forks High website, the Assistant Principal is named Brandmire, hence the name I used.


	3. The Green Shirt

In reality, I don't think there's a mall anywhere near Forks (Google "shopping mall, forks, Washington" and see the lousy and seemingly inaccurate results). Hell, the closest movie theater seems to be in Port Angeles which is an hour and fifteen minutes away. For storyline sake, there's a mall an hour away.

I will probably be posting at least one chapter a week. I'm a few chapters ahead on writing but, unlike myself, my beta has a life. Thanks Becky!

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own _Twilight_ or _Dawn_. Stephenie Meyer created the characters and V.C. Andrews gave me some storyline inspiration.

* * *

The next day in school Emmett passed me in the hallway a few periods before Photography.

"My place this afternoon?" He asked while walking backwards in the opposite direction.

"Can't. Tomorrow?" I had no real reason not to go over to Emmett's that afternoon. I just didn't want to get overly attached. It meant limiting my time outside of school hanging out with 'the gang'.

"Friday night, man! Movies?" Emmett stopped where he was and everyone went around him. He reminded me of an iceberg in the ocean. I was waiting to see if anyone would hit into him and sink like the Titanic.

"Can't, I'm broke." I felt embarrassed admitting I didn't have any money to go to the movie theater. I suddenly felt very self conscious as if everyone's eyes were on me, even if they weren't. You could tell by my clothes that my family didn't have a lot of money. My clothes didn't fit right—they were either too small or too large on me—I wasn't up to date with the latest styles and a few items had holes in them that had been patched up numerous times. I didn't feel the need to broadcast it so that everyone would have a verbal confirmation.

"Don't worry about it. I gotcha."

I walked closer to Emmett so no one would overhear our conversation. "I'm not sneaking in. I have the type of luck where I'd get caught."

"I didn't say anything about sneaking in. I told ya, I gotcha."

"Listen, Emmett, I don't want to be your charity case-"

He interrupted me before I could finish explaining. "I gotcha! I gotcha, buddy! Meet us at the flag pole tomorrow after school. Remember, I know where you live. I'll come over and drag your ass out of your house if you don't cooperate willingly. Ask your parents if you can stay out later since it's a Friday night. It's like an hour drive to the mall from here." He patted me on the shoulder, winked and then turned away so I couldn't argue with him.

At lunch I attempted to sit by myself, in my little corner. Alice and Jasper reached the cafeteria right after I sat down. Little Alice, all four foot nine inches of her, came over and threatened me with my life if I didn't get up and march right over to where Jasper was. It was at that moment that I started calling her 'Midg' – short for little midget – and she called me Eddie. I was actually starting to wonder if Hitler would have been a better nickname for her. I never had any siblings nor did I have any close bonds with anyone my age like a cousin. If I had a sister I was beginning to wish she could have been a girl like Alice. I could imagine teasing a sister like I did with her.

In Biology I had to escort Bella to the nurse because she felt ill. It seems like that happens a lot. I thought Mike was going to jump over the tables in the classroom to get to Bella when she raised her hand and announced she didn't feel well--he sure is an eager little beaver. Evidently, blood, guts and anything queasy don't mix too well with Bella. I also found out that she's quite clumsy. On the way to the nurse office she nearly tripped down an entire flight of stairs. I managed to catch her before she landed spread eagle on the landing. Bella was quite flustered after her fall and her cheeks were blushed with an adorable shade of bright pink.

Jasper and Alice apparently didn't have an afternoon make-out session. He showed up for American History that day. Actually, maybe they did have an afternoon make-out session. It's always possible that they just didn't get caught this time. I didn't inquire for any details. I don't need to know how often Jasper's tongue is down Alice's throat.

I took the bus home that afternoon even though Emmett saw me in the bus loop and offered me a ride home. It was bad enough that he knew what my house looked like. It was too soon and too embarrassing for the others to know as well. They all might see it eventually. I'd rather have them see it one at a time in the dark then in a group in broad daylight. The bus was crowded and I just sat looking out the window, minding my own business. I was thankful that no one bothered to try to speak with me.

My parents surprised me and said I could stay out until 2 a.m. and gave me a copy of the key to the front door. I tried to explain to Dad that Emmett was taking care of the movies for me. He insisted that I take some money and not be—in his words—a charity case. It seems like I get my stubbornness and pride from my father.

When Dad left the living room for the bathroom I quickly and quietly stuffed the ten dollar bill back into his wallet. I had noticed that morning that the station wagon needed gas. I'd rather bite the bullet and let someone pay for me then to have my father be in a bind with the car.

You can't say an American teenager never did anything nice for their parents.

On Friday afternoon I met the gang at the flag pole. We took both cars–-Emmett's Jeep and Rosalie's convertible-–directly to the mall. Alice and Rosalie shopped while Bella tried to stay out of their direct vision. It seemed that Alice liked to shop and Bella was her frequent target of clothes buying. I followed Emmett and Jasper into a clothing store and loitered around while they looked at clothes. While looking at a price tag of a shirt I liked, I winced and put it back on the rack. Alice came in at that moment and saw me looking fondly at the overpriced piece of clothing.

"Do you like that? Are you going to get it?"

"Um, no, I can't. It's out of my price range." My price range was the Wal-Mart and the local Good Will. The nearest Wal-Mart was almost two and a half hours away in Aberdeen. Forks didn't have a Wal-Mart, a movie theater or a mall. The thought crossed my mind that the little Podunk town might not have a Good Will either. Oh, fuck me. How the hell was I going to get any new clothes?

"I'll buy it for you!" She started to look through the rack. "Oh, I think this dark green shade would look great on you! It'll bring out your eyes more. You have really nice eyes, has anyone ever told you that, Eddie?"

"No, no, no, Midg, please don't."

"Why not?" She looked hurt at my refusal. "I buy clothes for Bella all the time. You can ask her yourself."

"No Midg, it's okay." Alice pouted and I hung my head. "Look, I know I need some clothes rather badly, but, I don't want you to buy them for me. It's not right."

"I'm just trying to help a friend, Eddie."

I almost caved when she referred to me as a friend. Hell, who am kidding? I almost cried. I couldn't remember the last time someone referred to me as a friend with that much sincerity in their voice. "No, Midg, please don't. It's very generous of you, but no."

"You can't resist forever." Alice placed her hands on her hips. "Trust me, Bella couldn't!" She crooked her finger at me and I bent down toward her. Alice placed a kiss on my cheek and then turned away.

"Bella? Where are you? I saw a skirt in the last store that I want to go back and get for you!"

I heard Bella groan from her hiding place behind Emmett. Alice giggled and clapped her hands. She bounced over to their direction but Bella didn't give in easily. Alice had to chase Bella around Emmett three times before she was able to drag her out of the store. I laughed when I saw Bella mouth the words 'help me' as she was exiting.

When everyone was done shopping we headed to the food court. The girls, who were suffering from a "I feel fat" moment after trying on clothes, suddenly craved salads. Jasper and Emmett wanted Chinese and pizza, respectively, while I had no money whatsoever on me.

Shit, maybe I should have exchanged the ten dollar bill for a five.

I attempted to stay away from the food lines by using the excuse that I was saving a table for us. Emmett put his arm around my shoulder in such a way that the crook of his elbow was against my neck. He almost had me in a headlock and he was able force me to join him in line. Damn him for being taller and stronger than me.

"What's your poison, Edward? Plain, pepperoni, sausage or do you like some odd combo like anchovies and chicken or pineapple and peppers?"

"No, thanks, I'm good."

"Dude, don't be crazy. You last ate at lunch and we're gonna be out late." Emmett pointed to the menu board. "I don't want your growling stomach on my conscious when we're in the movie theater."

"Plain cheese is fine." Of course, the standard slice of cheese pizza was the cheapest on the menu. I could have gotten by on just one slice. I heard Emmett order a small pie, half cheese and half with pepperoni and two sodas. He must have a huge appetite because on my best day I can only chow down three slices.

The girls had their food first and saved a table. Emmett left only half a slice and three crusts in the box when he pitched it in the trash. When he paid for the tickets I heard him ask for three and he handed one to Bella as well. I must have had an odd expression on my face because he announced "What? I have _two_ dates for this evening. One is just _much_ prettier than the other."

"I know you fancy Edward over Bella now." Rosalie said and covered her hand over her mouth to hide her laughter.

Bella stood next to Emmett, her face blushed and a cute smile spread across her lips.

"There is just something about his crazy ass head of hair that turns me on. It's so sexy." Emmett stated with a straight face. He'd probably kick ass in any card game. Jasper almost snorted soda through his nose.

"Sorry, Emmett." I grinned. "I'm taken for tonight. Rosalie asked if I would like to make-out with her during the movie. Maybe another time, honey bunch."

Of course, it was a lie. I was glad that Rosalie didn't call me out. I couldn't think of anything else to say to move the conversation away from Emmett's false infatuation with me. All the attention I was receiving was making me feel uncomfortable.

Bella sat next to me with Emmett on her left. Rosalie sat on my right and Jasper and Alice sat further back by themselves. Bella mentioned quizzing Jasper and Alice about the movie to see how much they actually watched. Rosalie laughed and stated that they'd probably be sucking face through out all of it.

In that case, I don't know why they even bothered to pay for a ticket. Wouldn't it have been wiser just to go back to Rosalie's car and suck face for free?

I don't understand people who have money. Really, I don't.

During the previews I saw Emmett put his arm around the back of Bella's chair and his fingers grazed her shoulder. Even though she had her head in my lap last night, there was no way in hell I was going to presume I could put my arm anywhere near Rosalie. I kept my hands in my lap where I wouldn't get smacked.

After the movie—which we all laughed hysterically at—we headed to the arcade. Emmett gave me some tokens and insisted I have fun and play a few games. I think his new mission in life is to get me addicted to video games. Emmett beat me – correction, kicked my ass beyond recognition – in one of those race car driving games. It reminded me that I should really update my permit and get my driver's license. I had turned seventeen back in June and still only had my permit. I knew how to drive and could probably pass a road test, but my permit was issued by the state of Utah. Public Transportation was non-existent in Forks, not to mention a lot of other places we had lived in. I didn't have a car, nor did I have the money to buy one and pay for insurance, but I thought it was important to have my license anyway. What would happen if both my parents got really sick and needed medical attention? I didn't want to call an ambulance if it wasn't actually needed. When I mentioned license troubles to Emmett he offered to help me in anyway that he could. He said he'd take me to the DMV and would even let me use his Jeep to practice in and use for the road test, if needed. I'd normally only say the following in regards to a female, but really, it was so damn sweet of him.

While we were at the arcade I lost sight of Alice. When I saw her again she was whispering into Emmett's ear and shoving something into one of his shopping bags. What the hell was she up to?

It was then time to make the hour long trek back to Forks. Rosalie took Alice and Jasper while Bella and I rode with Emmett. Like the other night, he dropped Bella at first.

When he pulled up to my house, Emmett asked me to wait and reached into the back seat. He dug through his bag and brought out the one that Alice had attempted to pass to him unnoticed at the arcade. It was from the men's clothing store we were in earlier in the night. "Alice said to give this to you when I dropped you off and not a minute before."

I shook my head and reluctantly took it. "She shouldn't have."

"But she did. Get used to it." Emmett shrugged. "That's Alice."

"Thanks." I muttered, embarrassed. "Tell Alice I said 'thanks', okay?"

"Will do."

I couldn't look directly at Emmett and kept my eyes downcast as I exited the Jeep. Not wanting to wake my parents, I entered the house as quietly as possible. Once I reached my room I opened the bag from Alice. Inside there was the long sleeved button up shirt I was looking at in the men's store. It was in the shade of green that Alice said would look good on me. The damn thing was even the correct size. I saw a piece of paper in the bottom of the bag and dug it out. The paper was torn out from a notebook and Alice's handwriting was scrawled across it.

_Eddie, _

_Please accept this shirt as a token of my friendship. If you try to refuse, my tiny fists of fury will beat your scrawny little ass. Or, at least attempt to. _

_Your friend, _

_Midg_

It was brought to my attention that I was crying when the letters on the note started to blur.

Oh, Midg.

* * *

Okay, bribe time! I have a lot of people that have set alerts to _Legacy_ but half as many of comments. Writers love comments - it's what drives us to write more. It's what makes it all worth it. I want to get this story out of me, but I want to know that others are enjoying it! In an effort to try to get some of you silent ones to leave a comment, I have made a little something for my readers. For those of you that don't know, I also dabble in PhotoShop. I have made an exclusive Rob/Kristen wallpaper for you! If the hosting address doesn't look familiar, don't worry, it's just my little no-nothing website.

The links won't show up here, so click on my name and go to my profile. I was able to list the wallpapers and Alice's note to Edward there.


	4. The Legacy of Emmett Cullen

**Disclaimer:** Thanks to Stephenie Meyer for creating _Twilight_ and V.C. Andrews for inspiration on the plot via _Dawn_.

Thank you for all your reviews on the last chapter! Ya'll are the best! Most of you didn't just write something like, "That was great!" but instead, you wrote much more insightful things. You wrote things that confirmed to me that you're actually reading _Legacy_. One very important question will be answered in this chapter that a LOT of you have been asking. I've just been ignoring it in your comments until now. I couldn't tell you ahead of time, sillies!

* * *

On Monday I wore the shirt Alice had bought for me to school. Jasper's little midget was right – the shirt did bring out the color of my eyes. Damn her. In the morning I passed Alice in the hallway on the way to English. When she saw me wearing the shirt she smiled and clapped like I expected.

The girl is just too damn happy for her own good. It's almost sickening.

"Eddie! It looks great on you!" Alice embraced me in a hug. Some of the other kids were gawking at us. I felt like flipping them the bird and telling them to bug off. "It fits just perfectly on you!"

"You're a sneaky little midget." I put my arm around her shoulders while we walked down the hallway. "No more clothes, Midg."

"Oh, come on Eddie!" She lowered her voice so no one else could hear. For extra measure she walked on her tip toes in an attempt to get closer to me. She tugged at the leg of my well worn jeans. "You could use some new pants. High waters are _not_ in style."

"No, Midg. I repeat, no." I sighed. Somewhere, deep down, I knew she wasn't going to listen to me. "Please do not buy me anything else. It's bad enough that Emmett paid for the movie and dinner for me. I'm not a girl; I wasn't his date. Please, do _not_ start buying clothes for me. I don't want to be a leech."

"You're not a leech!" She said the words a little too loud and a few kids looked in our direction. Smiling, she continued with a lowered voice. "Besides, I discovered that you and Jasper are the same size."

"Oh, no." My head fell forward in silent defeat.

"I can get clothes for you any time I want." Alice sang, thankfully, quietly.

"Then just buy clothes for Jasper." I looked at her and attempted to plaster on my most serious face. "I'm going to try to find a part-time job. That way, I can slowly get whatever I need."

"But, you don't need to get a new wardrobe slowly when you have me!" She exclaimed happily. We stopped outside of her classroom.

"Mary Alice Cullen." I was pulling out all the stops. Emmett had mentioned that Alice went by her middle name and I used my knowledge to my advantage. "Do _not_ buy clothes for me."

Alice gasped and planted a fist on her hip. "Why… you! How'd you know my full name?!"

"I'll never tell." I sung the words for the hell of it. "For future reference, my middle name is Anthony."

Alice gave me an evil look and then caved. "Fine, I won't buy you any more clothes." I could tell she was pouting. Knowing Alice, she would keep trying to cook up other ways to update my wardrobe.

"Thank you for cooperating with me, Midg." I smiled at her. "I gotta haul ass to class. See you at lunch."

She stuck her tongue out at me as I was leaving. I flipped her the bird over my shoulder.

I met with my guidance counselor—whose name I still can't remember—and asked about dropping Spanish for a study hall. After three years in Spanish I could read the language better than I could speak it. It took me too long to translate everything in my head. By the time I had figured out how I wanted to respond in a conversation, class was long over. I didn't need the credit and I thought that as graduation approached I could use the extra time to study for exams. In order to accommodate my schedule I had to change my English class to first period. When I told Emmett about the change his face lit up like a Christmas tree. Turns out, I'd be in the same class with him and Rosalie.

I was starting to think that maybe fate wasn't such a cruel and miserable bitch after all. It just likes to pull the carpet out from under you at times and point and watch as you fall on your ass. Stupid fate.

My mom got the job at the Thriftway grocery store. I ended up applying there as well. The manager, Cameron, told me that they didn't have any regular openings. I was a bit confused so I questioned him further. In a town the size of Forks you don't need a huge grocery store. Hence, the unfortunate lack my all time favorite store, Wal-Mart. I could go on a huge rave about how much I _love_ Wal-Mart but I'll spare you the gory details. Cameron said they could use someone for a few hours a couple times a week or someone to fill in for others. I'd get fewer hours than the other part-timers.

My first job ever started the next day. I only worked two and a half hours. I stocked some shelves and swept the aisles. Cameron gave me a schedule and he talked about training me to work the register. I secretly hoped that the training wouldn't happen. That would mean I'd have to deal with people. I was totally content with stocking shelves, bagging, sweeping, cleaning the bottle room and pushing carts in the parking lot. They were all things that could be done without necessarily talking to others. I told Cameron that I went straight to a friends house a lot of days after school. I gave him Emmett's cell phone number in case they needed me to work at the last minute. Thankfully, when I told Emmett about the situation, he was cool with it.

I made sure to talk to Emmett about the store contacting him when Alice wasn't around. Otherwise, I'm sure she'd offer to buy me a cell phone. She only promised not to buy me clothes; we hadn't confronted my electronics issues and I didn't want to.

One day, late in October, I was in the kitchen of the Cullen's house with Emmett. We were sitting on a pair of stools at the counter, flipping through some of Emmett's car magazines when Alice glided down the stairs. She had a digital camera in her hand and she was humming. Oh, joy.

"Eddie, we don't have any pictures of you!"

"Ah, Midg." I didn't like to have my picture taken. I wasn't sure why. I held a book over my face to block it. "You can't take it, when it develops, I won't show up."

"You're not a vampire." Alice leaned across the counter and grabbed the book from my hands. "I think you have the mythology wrong anyway. Isn't it vampires and mirrors?"

I stuck my tongue out at her. She snapped a picture at that moment and I grimaced. That'd be a great piece of nostalgia.

Emmett chuckled next to me. "Let's just get the torture over with."

He put an arm around my shoulder and I attempted to do the same. I couldn't reach all the way around him and my hand ended up barely grasping his shoulder. We both smiled to please Alice. She snapped the picture and was happy with the preview. Alice danced back up stairs to rejoin Bella and Rosalie.

"Where's Jasper?" I asked.

"He's at his Civil War re-enactment meeting down in Seattle." Emmett rolled his eyes.

No fucking way!

I was trying not to laugh. I knew Jasper was into History, but I didn't realize he participated in re-enactments. That's a hardcore history buff. "A Civil War re-enactment, are you serious?"

The girls noisily made their way down the stairs. Alice announced that they were going to the drug store to develop some pictures. I secretly hoped the developing machine was not working.

"Emmett, can I ask you something?" I asked nervously.

He shrugged his shoulders. "Sure, anything Edward."

"Why did you have Bella ask me to join your table for lunch?" I ran my fingers through my hair. I was sure it was standing straight up in all different directions. I could never tame my hair no matter how hard I tried.

"You seemed like a cool kid from Photography." He took no time to form his answer.

"Me? Cool?" I snorted. "What are you high on?"

"I've never done a drug in my life." I shrugged so he continued. "Wait, I tried pot once, hated it and never went near it again."

That was an honest and unexpected answer if I ever heard one.

"You weren't afraid to talk to me," he continued. "Most kids at school are intimidated by me. You talked back and joked with me. If you didn't notice, your entire bit on why I failed kindergarten cracked me up. Shit man, did I not play well with others?" He punched me in the arm and I tried not to wince. "Like I said, you seemed like you were alright. I had a good feeling about you, ya know? Bella saw you sitting by yourself and asked if anyone knew who the new kid was. I told her that I had met you and told her about you. I suggested that she go and ask you to join us. And the rest, as they say, is history."

"I'm not cool." I stated simply. "I just happen to hang with the cool kids."

"You hang with the cool kids, thus, you are cool." He said convincingly.

I raised my eyebrow at him. It wasn't always that easy. "You're insane."

"Thank you! I appreciate your diagnosis, Dr. Masen."

"How long have you and Bella been going out?" I didn't want to make it feel like I was digging and being nosy. I was just curious.

"Me and Bella?" Emmett almost doubled over. "We're not dating!"

"You're not?" I tried to suppress any look of surprise or shock on my face. It was hard to do because that's how I was feeling. "I thought you two were an item."

"No, we've been best friends since she was five." His brow furrowed curiously. "I never thought of her that way. We've know each other for so long that we're comfortable with each other. To put my arm around Bella as we're walking down the hallway is just second nature for me. I guess it's also my way of attempting to protect her from certain unwanted advances."

"Oh." I was a little shocked and unsure of what to say next. "I feel kind of stupid for assuming that the two of you were dating all this time."

"Why? Did you want to ask her out? I know she's been flirting with you."

"No, no, I don't date." I shook my head vehemently. "We never stay in one place long enough."

"Understandable. You might want to tell her to stop grinding her ass into your crotch when she gets out of the Jeep then."

"Shit, you saw that?" I didn't think he knew. I felt more embarrassed that he had known what she had done to me.

"I'm not stupid and I've got eyes." Emmett winked at me. "I'm pretty damn sure that Bella has the hots for you. That or she just loves messing with your head. But, I honestly don't think she's like that. Back in sixth grade we fooled around under the bleachers. She let my hands wander up her skirt, if you know what I mean." He smiled mischievously at the memory. "A few days later she straight up told me that she didn't think we should do something like that again. I was too much like a big brother to her. I respect her wishes. I had a fun time feelin' her up in sixth grade though."

"I bet." Emmett got to do what I've only fantasized about. Lucky guy, even if it was back when he was twelve.

Our conversation stalled right then because I didn't know what else to say. I had started to like Bella but my mind told me to stop. I thought she was Emmett's girlfriend. Now that I knew otherwise, it didn't make my situation any better. It was bad enough that I had made friends. I didn't want to get involved with someone romantically and have to leave them behind. I couldn't do that to someone else. Hell, I couldn't do that to myself. I was protecting myself as much as anyone else from a broken heart.

That would totally suck ass. Oh, crap, I'm stealing Bella's favorite saying. Fuck.

At least I didn't have to feel guilty anymore. I had countless naughty thoughts that crossed my mind about Bella. So many that, if I was Catholic, I'd have to go to confession every day and I'd still be going to hell.

"Do you have any idea about Rosalie then?"

"What about Rose?" Emmett questioned. "For some reason she's single, do you like her?"

His eyes must not function as well as he thinks. Emmett seemed totally oblivious to the gazes that Rosalie focused on him.

"I'm pretty damn sure that Rosalie has a crush on you." I informed him.

"What? Rose? What? No!" He leaned closer to me. "Do you really think so? Really?"

Nope, he had no clue whatsoever. I reminded him that we were at his house and not the cafeteria. There was no need for him to lean in close to me so that no one could hear our conversation. He apologized and moved back to his original spot.

"You never caught her staring at you?" I was hoping that sharing my knowledge would help the two of them and not ruin anything. "I noticed it the first day."

"Really?" He had his usual shit-eating grin on his face. "Damn, I never noticed. How could I have never noticed?! I'm such an asshole! She's been kind of flirting with you too, so I thought she was competing with Bella."

"Pft," I laughed out loud at the stupidity of his statement. "I'm sure that Rose doesn't have any interest in me. I think she was trying to make you jealous. Do you want me to talk to her and test the waters?"

"Oh man, that'd be great! Do it on the sly though, ya know?" Emmett was really enthusiastic about the entire Rosalie situation now. "She's a great girl, really. I never thought she'd be interested in me."

I tried not to snort because I hated doing that. "What do you mean? Why wouldn't she be interested in you? You're the most popular guy in school."

"Oh, please. Popularity is highly overrated in my book. Do you know how many true friends I have?"

"No, how many?" I asked curiously. He must have tons of friends. The kids at school were always flocked around him. What's the saying? Like a moth to a flame and Emmett was a damn bonfire.

"Bella, Jasper, Rose, my own sister and you." He informed me. I was honored that, after a short amount of time, he considered me a true friend. "I'll talk to anyone that talks to me if they don't want something from me. That's the problem though; most kids at school just want something. I'm tired of people wanting to be my friend so they can use me." Emmett paused and looked like he was struggling with what to say next. "I might as well tell you something. I'm sure no one else has already. Did you know that technically, I'm a millionaire?"

Holy hell on wheat toast! That would explain a lot of things, like not batting an eye at buying me and Bella tickets to the movies. Hell, what's an additional thirty bucks spent on a movie and pizza when you have millions of dollars? It's just a drop in the bucket for a millionaire.

I was so shocked that I had a hard time forming an intelligent sentence. "Say what?"

At least that was better than my first thought of 'Whatcho talkin' about, Emmett?'

He rose from his stool and pushed it back under the counter. "I've never given you the grand tour of the house. Come on and I'll explain."

Emmett led me to the second floor where his room was. He popped open the doors of his parents bedroom, a study and a bathroom. Then I followed him up to the third floor where Alice's room is. I took a peek inside and found it to be pretty much the way I imagined. Everything looked expensive, designer and just plain 'girl pretty'. She had a huge closet which I'm sure is filled with the latest expensive designer clothes. Emmett showed me a modest guest room and another bathroom. Next to the bathroom door, and before the next one, hung an oil painting of an old man. He was portrayed with vibrant green eyes, bald and rugged looking, perhaps even distinguished.

"That is my grandfather, Anthony Cullen. He's dead." Emmett informed me. "I don't remember anything first hand about him. Grandfather died when I was only six months old. He was very old fashioned. From the stories I've heard, Grandfather Cullen reminded me of an old, blue-blooded aristocrat. You know the type of person that wants to keep his family legacy going like it's the most important thing in the world. Legacy schmegacy. When I was younger and curious, I looked up legacy in the dictionary. By definition it's a gift of property or money by bequest or anything handed down from the past from an ancestor. Don't ask me how I've remembered that. It's the first part of the meaning that so many rich people get wrapped up in—the money. The fact that you can pass on something to the next generation of your family is what's important. And I'm not talking about money. Your attitude, eye and hair color, mannerisms, good heart or a trait. What makes you, you. I guess that'd be your genes. I'd much rather have my father's compassion then a fugly ass painting from the 1700s that's worth millions of dollars."

"That's deep, Emmett." I was taken back by his words. "You've thought about this a lot, haven't you?"

Emmett leaned against the wall and smiled. "I guess I've wondered at times what my life would be like without my grandfather's legacy. In my grandfather's will, he split everything between four of us. My grandmother, Camilla, was well taken care of. Then there were his sons, my father Carlisle and his brother, Tony. Lastly, his male grandchildren were to inherit a bunch of money. That'd be me." He pointed to his chest with his thumb to emphasize his words. "His will stipulated that if any male grandchildren were to be born within ten years of his death, Grandmother Camilla's portion of her inheritance was to be cut and they were to receive an amount equal to mine. I know the old bag didn't like that one. I bet she was glad that Uncle Tony's wife spit out two girls and my mom had Alice."

"You called your grandmother an 'old bag'; I'm guessing she's not very likable?"

"Unlikable is the nicest way I've ever heard her described." Emmett sighed and glanced at the painting on the wall before turning back to me. "When your own kids don't send you a mother's day card, invite you to Christmas dinner or visit you in general, it's bad. My dad and Uncle Tony went into the medical field. Their specialties are cardiology and internal medicine. I once heard dad arguing with Grandmother because she was embarrassed that her two sons went into such a profession. She wanted them to be investment bankers, high power CEOs or something like that. You know, she doesn't think that saving lives is important. I haven't seen the woman in at least twelve years. I don't even remember why I saw her when I did. My father detested her even back then. I don't know even the last time my father visited her. His nickname for her is 'The Wicked Witch'."

"Wow." It was all I could muster. "Does she live around here?"

He shrugged. "Last I knew she lived in the suburbs of Portland."

"Shit, that's messed up."

"Tell me about it. Alice didn't inherit anything. I'm glad that my father thought to invest some money for her. My inheritance was in a trust. I still don't have total access to it until I'm twenty-one. Any withdrawals have to be cleared with my father first. But I have a say in how I want it to be invested now."

The light bulb above my head went off. "Oh, so that's how you can afford to buy things but I don't see you going out and buying crazy amounts of things."

"I don't need a lot of shit anyway. If I want to treat a friend, I can." He smiled at me. "If I wanted to buy a car or something else that's big, it's gotta go through my Dad. I get some money pumped into my bank account every month."

"Sweet."

"Yeah, I guess so. My Dad makes sure that we give to charities and give back to the community. At Thanksgiving we put together baskets of food and every Christmas we go to the children's wing at the hospital. Dad dresses up as Santa Clause and we pass out presents to the kids. Hey, wanna join us this year? Jasper, Alice and Bella always join us and help out. We can always use another elf. It's really fun."

I was almost speechless at their generosity. "Count me in." I nodded.

Emmett made me promise not to mention any of what was said about his family to anyone else. I agreed instantly. I'm not sure if anyone would believe the things about his Grandmother anyway. We were about to head back downstairs when I remembered that he hadn't shown me what was behind the door all the way to the left.

"Oh, that room." Emmett's brow was furrowed. "What the hell is one more family secret amongst friends?"

He led me over to the door and he tested the door knob. He seemed surprised when it opened and we stood in the doorway. The room was very large but almost bare and decorated in a palette of beiges. The walls were light, almost tan. There was a full size bed which had a dark coffee bean colored comforter on it. An oak dresser was against one wall with a comfortable looking coffee colored couch next to it. The glass window, which Emmett had a view from a floor below, continued up and ended just inches from the ceiling.

"This room… how the hell do I explain this room?" Emmett questioned for a moment. "The last time I tried the door knob it was locked. For years I thought this was another guest room but I never saw anyone use it. Even when we had too many guests to fit in the other room, my mother insisted that no one ever stay in here. She's kept it decorated over the years in various ways. When I was younger, the décor mimicked my own room. As I grew up and matured, this room changed as much as mine did. I don't know why and was always afraid to ask. I often wondered if my mother had miscarried before having me and couldn't bring herself to tell us. I think it was her way to deal with the loss."

"I guess that makes sense." It made me sad to think of Esme in this room, decorating it for a baby that was never born. "Don't worry, Emmett. I won't tell anyone what you told me today. I'm sure every family has its own secrets."

I wondered if my family had any secrets I didn't know about. I couldn't think of what they'd be. My parents had always been so honest about everything. I couldn't imagine them keeping anything from me.

Emmett closed the door and we headed toward the stairs. "That's a relief. I really don't want to have to bury you in the basement with all my other ex-friends. Those bastards just couldn't keep their mouths shut."

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You know what I'm gonna say - if you liked it, please comment! Feed me and make me want to write more! In fact, if you like _Legacy_, please consider recommending it to a fellow fan fic friend. If you have your own theories or ideas as to what is going on, please don't post your entire reveal in your review. I don't know how many people actually read comments for a story, but it could ruin the plotline for someone who isn't on the same track as you. Feel free to PM to tell me your theories or ask questions.


	5. Just Call Him Chuck

_Legacy_ finally hit over 100 reviews! I'm doing Edward's parking lot happy dance from _Serendipitous_. You know I read every review like, five, six… ten times, right? I must give shout outs to TwilightFan104 and austen1775 for their in depth, thoughtful reviews.

If you're a Jasper/Alice fan I suggest checking out _To Love Again_ by Staysa. It's in progress and currently only has two chapters, but I like it. But you know, stay here and read this chapter of _Legacy_ first. Got that?

After I posted Chapter 4 I had to edit the document so I'll mention this here. Please don't go in depth into your theories in the comments. I don't know if anyone ever reads the comments of someone else's stories. I'd hate it if someone ruined the storyline for another reader because you're guessing what's going on. Feel free to PM me with your theories and hunches.

Remember those wallpaper bribes I tried to post in Chapter 3? I was able to add them to my profile page. Just click on my user name and scroll down to where it says _Legacy Goodies_.

Huge thanks and hugs for eccentric_chams for taking over beta duties. She catches mi stooped miztakez an curects my sintencze strukure. Go check out her story, _One Night Stand_ if you haven't already. thebeckert continues to be my idea bouncer.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own _Twilight_ or _Dawn_. I'm just playing with characters Stephenie Meyer created and adapting a plotline from V.C. Andrews.

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My job at the Thriftway has to be the most boring job on earth. I put up with it only because I don't have skills that a real job required. Don't get me wrong, I can be sarcastic seven ways until Sunday, however, I've never seen a help wanted ad specifically requesting a sarcastic skill-less teenager. All the crap I did at the Thriftway was easy enough but it was often yawn worthy.

I was sweeping the floors the day that Esme walked into the Thriftway. I was up near the registers and Mom happened to be working as a cashier. It wasn't busy at the moment so Mom was cleaning the checkout stands. Two busy little bees working together. How sweet.

I spotted Emmett's mom as soon as she walked in through the electronic doors. A smile spread across her lips and she came over to greet me. "Hello, Edward," she smiled brightly. "Emmett told me you had gotten a job at the Thriftway."

Now, don't get me wrong, Esme is a lovely person. After all, she finds it in her heart to put up with Emmett on a daily basis. For that alone the woman should receive a gold medal. There is just something really peculiar about her, like the way she kept on looking at my Mom. Or all the times I've caught her looking at me, like she was trying to memorize my face. I kept hoping that she wasn't planning on doing something really weird and stupid like seducing me or something equally as awkward. I do not want to cross over into Mrs. Robinson territory with Esme Cullen. I can just see the conversation with Emmett about his mother.

'Emmett, your mother hit on me. I think she wants to fuck me!'

*punch*

Picture me dead on the floor because Emmett punched me in the head for even mentioning his mother, me and fucking in the same sentence. I wonder if the rest of the gang would show up at my funeral or if my parents would grieve for me by themselves.

"Yeah, I get some hours here and there." I shrugged. I was thankful that I didn't accidentally tack 'Mrs. Robinson' onto the end of the sentence. Esme kept sneaking glances at my mom who was watching us. I thought it'd be the polite thing to introduce them. "This is my mom, Liz. Mom, this is Emmett's Mom, Esme Cullen."

Mom stepped forward but didn't reach out to shake hands since they were dirty from cleaning the registers. "It's very nice to finally meet you, Esme. Thank you for having Edward over so often. I hope he's behaving and minding his manners."

I got the vibe that Mom was nervous about meeting Esme. She kept on running her hands along her apron. Mom is the type of person that gets nervous in front of people who are visibly better off than us. And you could tell by just looking at Esme that she was better off. Her clothes fit the way they were supposed to and her caramel colored hair was coifed as if she had just left a salon. I noticed that it looked like she had gotten her nails done recently, too.

"It's no problem at all. You've raised a fine boy here, Liz." Esme smiled. I blushed. Mom wrung her hands. "Emmett's outside waiting for your shift to end, Edward."

That reminded me that my shift was over in about ten minutes. Esme left to go shop while I finished up my sweeping and Mom went back to her cleaning. When I was leaving the back room I spotted Rosalie by the water case. Esme didn't mention anyone but Emmett waiting for me, but, I should have known that someone else would be with him. Emmett rarely traveled alone.

"Hey, Rose," I greeted her. "Did you get bored waiting outside?"

"I got thirsty," She opened the case and reached toward the back for a cold bottle. "So I thought I'd come in for some water."

We started down the aisle with the chips when I thought it might be a good idea to talk to Rosalie about Emmett. He had started to bug me non-stop since I had mentioned Rose's crush on him. The time to talk to her had never been quite right. There was always someone else around and I didn't want to embarrass her in front of anyone. I decided to take the Emmett approach and dive right in. "Rose, how long have you liked Emmett?"

"W..wh..what?" She fumbled with the cap on the water bottle and stopped walking. I took the bottle from her trembling fingers, opened it and passed it back to her.

"I know you have a crush on Emmett." I told her matter-of-factly. "How long have you felt that way?"

She took a swig of water. "It's been a while, feels like forever actually. How could you tell? I thought I hid it so well. I never even told Bella or Alice."

"It's the way you look at him." I informed her. "And you were flirting with me. I knew you wanted someone else's attention. The only other guy in the group is your twin brother. I can assume you're not into incest, right? I deducted that you must have a thing for Emmett.'

Rosalie winced. "I'm sorry if I led you on."

She flattered me with the attention but Rose never led me on. I knew from the very beginning that Rosalie had a thing for Emmett. It didn't stop my very over active hormonal imagination from having Rose star in a few of my dreams; Bella was usually the main star but Rose popped in occasionally. I guess my brain liked a change of scenery. There were times that the dreams consisted of me with one of them or just the two of them. Other times it was the three of us.

I'm such a sick bastard.

"Why don't you ask Emmett out?" It was an acceptable practice for a girl to ask a man out on a date now. I don't know why she hadn't thought of the notion before.

"I don't think I could take the rejection, Edward."

"Rejection? You think Emmett would reject you, Rose? Really?" I asked.

Rosalie ran her fingers through her pretty blonde hair. She still wasn't looking me in the eyes. "I've known Emmett for as long as I can remember. He thinks of Bella as a sister and I'm afraid that he thinks of me the same way. I'd never be able to live it down if he laughed at me and said 'no'."

I placed a finger under Rose's chin and tipped her face upward so she would look at me. "I've known Emmett for only a fraction of the time that you have. I can tell he's a good guy and I don't think he'd laugh at you. In fact, I think he'd accept."

"Maybe I should ask him to the Snow Ball." Her statement sounded more like a question.

"What's the Snow Ball?" I asked. It could have been one big snow ball fight for all I knew. However, I was guessing it wasn't.

"It's a Sadie Hawkins Dance." Rose explained. "You know, where the girls ask the guys out. There's one every December at school."

I was able to think of one little complication that would make Rose think Emmett wouldn't go with her. "Lemme guess, does Bella usually go with Emmett?"

"Every year so far." She explained with a sigh. "Bella always waits and gets her dress the week before the dance."

"It's a last minute date." I guessed out loud. "Emmett doesn't get asked by anyone he's interested in so he and Bella go together as friends. You need to ask Emmett before he commits to going with Bella."

I saw my Mom watching us from the other end of the aisle. Rosalie was looking intently at something on the shelf when she turned to me with a smile. "You're a freakin' genius, Edward. I have to work up the courage to ask Emmett to the Snow Ball." She embraced me in a hug and kissed my cheek. Oh, my Mom just saw a hot, gorgeous blonde hug me in an aisle of the Thriftway. Shit, I'm so going to be interrogated when I get home.

Mom had a big grin on her face when Rose and I approached her register. I was standing behind Rose while Mom checked out the person in front of us. Suddenly, something small and tiny slammed against my body. Surprised by the impact, I slid down and hit the floor, pinned against the soda case.

I glanced down to see Alice in my arms. "You know, Midg, you can just say hello like everyone else! You don't need to body slam me."

"Eddie!" Alice beamed at me. "How are you?"

"I don't think I have any broken bones, so, I'm all good."

Rose was standing over us, giggling. My Mom and the customer checking out stood staring at us, their mouths slightly open in shock. Emmett, Bella and Jasper entered and took notice of us on the floor. They made their way over, laughing and being rowdy.

"Is this a new way to clean the Thriftway?" Emmett joked.

"Smart ass." I said simply.

Emmett grinned. "Look who's talking, King of Sarcasm."

"I'm still waiting for my damn crown."

Mom had finished checking out the customer ahead of Rose. They were headed to the exit, shaking their head the entire way. Oh, the youth of today. We chase people with no sense of humor out of stores when we get rambunctious and body slam our friends for no apparent reason.

"Jasper, would you please extract your girlfriend from my arms?"

Jasper stepped forward to help Alice untwist herself from me. "Baby, we need to get you on the track team or something. You have way too much excess energy."

Alice stuck her tongue out at Jasper and bounced up and down on her toes of her ballet shoes. Jasper extended a hand and helped me to get back to my feet. Rose had paid for her water and now the six of us were standing there, blocking the register. At least there was no one behind us. Mom was standing there behind the register and I'm sure she was thinking one of two things. Either she wanted to leave because she was intimidated or she wanted me to introduce my friends to her.

I decided that I'd be a good son and make introductions. I'm sweet and shit like that.

"Guys, this is my Mom." I pointed to my mother and everyone mumbled a simple 'Hello Mrs. Masen.'. Alice was still bouncing in place like a speed freak and waved. Maybe a spot on the track team was a good idea. "Mom, this is Rosalie Hale, Emmett Cullen, Bella Swan, Jasper Hale and Alice Cullen." I pointed each one out as I stated their name.

Mom smiled nervously. She was wringing her hands again. "It's great to put a face with the names. I've heard so much about you all. It's nice to meet you kids."

"It's great to meet the woman who raised such a nice, fine boy." Emmett said with a grin.

Bella, who was standing next to him, had her face turned away and was biting her lip. It was so damn cute when she did that. I had a dream last night where Bella and I were fooling around and somehow, sexually inexperienced me, made her come. I still don't' know how I did that because I don't remember that part. In my dream, she bit her lip when her body shuttered around me. Fuck, I'm in public and I can't think about that right now. I don't want to pitch a tent in the middle of the fucking Thriftway.

"Don't mind Emmett, Ma, he failed kindergarten so he's a little slow."

Rose, who had taken a gulp of water, started to choke. Emmett stepped forward and pushed me aside to see to Rose. He gently patted her on the back. "You okay, Rosie?" Emmett asked full of concern.

Rose coughed once more and stared up at Emmett. A tiny trickle of water had dripped down her chin. Emmett reached up and slowly wiped it away with his fingers. Oh, hell, I need to get those two together. I feel like I'm the host of the _Dating Game_. At least it wasn't the 1970s and I don't need to wear a cheesy ass powder blue tux to host this sucker. Powder blue is so not my color.

"I'm fine." She cleared her throat. "Edward and that damn kindergarten shtick."

"I know what you mean." His voice was a little softer when he spoke. He was still standing next to Rose. The rest of us were staring at the two of them and it felt like we were interrupting a personal moment.

This isn't a coincidence. It all made sense now. I thought back to when I mentioned Rose's crush to Emmett. He had seemed overly eager and excited. I wondered how long Emmett has had his crush on Rosalie.

Jesus, just call me Chuck mother fuckin' Woolery.

Mom loudly cleared her throat to get our attention. A customer had come up behind us and needed to check out. "I'll see you later, Ma."

"Bye Ma!" The rest of the group collectively sang out as we headed through the check out and toward the exit.

Operation: Get Emmett and Rosalie Together, alias Operation Matchmaker, was about to commence. And I hadn't the foggiest idea of what the hell to do.

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You know what to do! Pretty please leave a review and then go check out _To Love Again_ and _One Night Stand_! Tell 'em I sent ya!


	6. Failure, Baldness and a Doofus

Sadly, this is another short chapter. The good news is that chapter 7 looks like it might be another "use the bathroom before you sit down" chapter. Thanks to everyone who commented on the last one. I had a lot of new "Story Alert", "Favorite Story" and "Favorite Author" alerts come in from what seemed to be new readers. You know, you can say something! I don't bite. Unless you want me to. Even then, my teeth aren't razor sharp like the Cullen's. You might just get turned on from my bite. Although, that could be just as scary, huh?

I've been getting quite a few comments like, "I don't normally like All Human or Alternative Universe fic but I really like this". Anyone care to go more in depth? I'm really wondering why you feel that way, or more specifically, what it is about _Legacy_ that you seem to like over other AH or AU fics that you don't enjoy.

Yo, Eccentric_Chams, you clean up my stoopid mistakez so I doesn't look likes an idiotz when I's post. Thanks for being my beta. Becky's my idea bouncer. *hugs*

**Disclaimer:** Sigh... I still don't own _Twilight_ or _Dawn_. Instead, I give thanks to Stephenie Meyer and V.C. Andrews for characters and plot inspiration. I'm just playing with them.

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**CHAPTER 6: FAILURE, BALDNESS AND A DOOFUS**

I seriously suck as a Matchmaker. Seriously, seriously suck.

I didn't know what the hell I was doing; I tried to let Emmett and Rose be alone as much as possible. Trying to do that was a little harder than expected. It's not easy letting two people be alone so sparks can fly when there are three other people who have no fucking clue as to what your intentions are.

Although Operation: Matchmaker was in serious failure mode, I was not giving up. Not yet. I needed to get those two crazy kids together. Or at least give them a push in the right direction. I felt like I kind of owed it to them. It was the only way to really thank Emmett for allowing me in their little circle. I like Emmett and he's a great guy but I don't like him so much that I'd pay him back with sexual favors. I just don't swing that way. Not even for Emmett Cullen.

After the incident in the Thriftway, I had started to notice how attracted Emmett and Rose were to each other. I had a sneaking suspicion that those two were bound to be together, sooner or later. They just needed to get their acts together. Jasper and Alice were together and giddy beyond words. It was really quite sickening at times to watch them. I'm sure that they would be nominated for 'Most Likely to Get Married' in the yearbook. For a single guy, such observations of happiness could be quite annoying. I often wondered if Bella felt the same way or if the overload of happiness only affected me. I was truly hoping that Bella wouldn't be hurt whenever Emmett and Rose finally connected—that was never part of the half-assed Operation.

Speaking of Bella, she continued to be a cocktease. It was incredibly hard to deal with. Hell, I was incredibly hard. I liked Bella well enough. I frequently caught myself sneaking glances of her in the classes we shared. She was smart, sexy, clumsy and goofy. Not to mention I could carry on an intelligent conversation with her, unlike most of the other girls in our class. We could argue over our favorite authors, about politics or even why the economy was so deep in the toilet. I think because of her intelligence level—I found her to be really quite smart—I was even more attracted to her. She was, for a lack of a better phrase, the complete package.

I continued to hit my head against an imaginary brick wall. I was damned if I did and damned if I didn't.

I felt that I couldn't do a damn thing about my feelings for Bella. I could ask her out and she might actually agree to a date, but then what? I can't pack her in a suitcase and take her to the next town we move to. That would be so utterly creepy. Not to mention the fact that her father would probably hunt me down with his police-issued shot gun.

Of course, all this made my imagination go wild and wander. Was Bella limber enough to contort her body to fit in a suitcase? What other positions could she get into? All my thinking about Bella in various positions just made me hard again.

I have to think of something else for a while. I'm tired of my balls being blue.

This year we could be considered lucky—Halloween landed on a Friday night! Originally I had no plans but as always, the Cullen's quickly changed that. Every year Emmett, Carlisle and Jasper put together a big haunted maze in their yard. All the kids in Forks—even some from surrounding towns—came to pass through it. Of course, I was invited over to help set up and scare the hell out of the people who chose to enter.

I was surprised when I overheard Emmett and Carlisle talking about monetary donations. I cautiously asked why they sought money because after all, I knew the Cullen's didn't need it. I was happy to hear that the donations weren't for their family but they matched each donated dollar to a charity. Last year they had given the American Cancer Society a total of eight hundred dollars. I thought that was really cool of them to do.

Jasper and Rose's immediate family were also at the Cullen's house. I didn't like them from the moment I met them. Their mother was snooty, their father a snob and their little sister, Rachel, was an evil combination of both parents. I swear, I thought I saw devil horns on top of Rachel's little head. I don't know how they managed it, but Jasper and Rose didn't seem to be anything like either of their parents or sister. For that, I was grateful—I think we all were.

We were hanging out in the sitting area downstairs, dressed in our costumes and waiting for the festivities to begin. I wasn't totally sure what Emmett was supposed to be; he wore a long black cape with a hood. His face was completely painted white except for a trickle of red—blood I assumed—running down the one corner of his mouth.

"Emmett, what the hell are you?" I asked curiously.

"You can't tell? I'm the Grim Reaper, bro." He scoffed. "No wonder you can't tell what I am. I don't have my scythe."

He ran upstairs and returned carrying a realistic looking plastic scythe to complete his costume. Now, it all made sense. You can't be a Grim Reaper without carrying something that's supposed to be sharp and scary.

Jasper was dressed as what I'd categorize as a demented clown. He also had blood dripping from the corner of his mouth. The multi-colored wig he wore was partially hacked into and the remaining hair was wild. His make-up didn't resemble that of the average clown. It reminded me of a twisted, demented _Joker_. The jumpsuit he wore had big multi-colored polka dots splattered with blood. He was carrying a gigantic, fake butcher's knife—you got it—covered in fake blood.

Yup, some poor kid is going to go home terrified of clowns and it's all going to be Jasper's fault.

Okay, so it'd be my fault too. I was also dressed as a demented clown. In fact, for all intent purposes, tonight Jasper and I were twins. Jasper had some ideas on how to freak out the cocky teenagers since they'd initially think there was only one of us. To tell you the truth, I was eager to scare someone shitless. Am I messed up or what?

Alice was dressed as Tinkerbell, complete with wings. She looked adorable and the outfit totally fit her personality. At times Alice is so hyper that I'm surprised she doesn't fly away on her own.

Rosalie was wearing a very sexy, low-cut revealing nurse's uniform. She had an old fashioned nurse's hat sitting on top of her perfectly coifed blonde hair. A stethoscope was wrapped around her neck and she was holding a huge, fake needle. The needle could act like a water gun—she was able to fill it up with water and squirt it.

I suddenly felt sick and wanted a check up from Rose. Maybe she'd bend over me and her nipples would suddenly be exposed. No, I didn't have that kind of luck. Plus, I needed to stop thinking about Rose that way. Ever since I devised the crappily put together Operation: Matchmaker, day dreaming about Rose just hasn't been as fun. For all intent purposes, Rose was Emmett's girl.

Bella was lying down on the couch next to me. It was just like that first day. She had thrown her feet up in my lap. She was actually wearing almost wearing the exact same outfit but she twisted it into the version of a Catholic school girl that I had in my head.

Damn it, was she a mind reader?

Bella had the top two buttons of her white shirt undone; the bottom was tied in a knot which landed mid-way at her lovely flat stomach. She was wearing a black pleated skirt with white thigh highs and a pair of black patent leather Mary Jane's.

To say that I was happy that I wore my jeans to keep warm under my clown outfit was an understatement. If I wasn't, I'd totally be pitching a tent if I looked at her for too long. I really need to find a synonym for 'pitch a tent' because it's starting to get old.

Did I happen to mention that Bella had pulled her lovely brown hair into pigtails and she was playfully sucking on a lollipop?

Fuckity, fuck, fuck, fuck. I'm sure my balls were blue. I had a private school girl fetish. When the hell did that happen?

"Bella, whatcha got under there?" Emmett asked with a smirk. "Are you wearing bloomers to keep warm? Or are you wearing a pair of your thongs?"

Bella smiled deviously. "Take a look for yourself."

Guh! Bella raised her skirt and flashed the room. The main problem was that she didn't immediately put her skirt back down. And I just kept my eyes trained on her pussy. She was wearing another pair of almost see through black, lacy underwear. She must have bought Victoria's Secret completely out of black, lacy thongs.

I looked away but the damage was done. My dick couldn't take this kind of abuse much longer. My body was being tortured, pure and simple. I felt my cheeks flush. I thought that only happened to females.

Emmett laughed heartily from across the room. "My dear Bella, are you bald?"

My head snapped in Emmett's direction and then Bella's. Rose, who was standing near Emmett, walked over, reached up and smacked him in the back of the head. He needed that. I would have done the same thing if I wasn't half way across the room and half his size.

"Bald?" I asked innocently.

"Brazilian Wax." She stated simply. "It was Alice's idea."

Jasper nodded with a grin. "Nice and smooth. No carpet!" Alice playfully slapped his arm.

"Rosalie?" Emmett asked with no further explanation.

Smooth Emmett, real smooth. You're asking the girl you're interested in if she's bald below the belt. Emmett can be such a doofus sometimes. He's not helping with Operation: Matchmaker at all.

"We're the Three Musketeers." Rosalie confirmed. Her lips held a smile but she looked a little embarrassed.

Hell, I would be too if I had a pussy and everyone knew it was stripped of any hair with hot wax. Shit, isn't that a painful ordeal?

The conversation regarding baldness was dropped, thank God, and we decided to head outside. It was starting to get dark and we wanted to draw people into the haunted maze.

"Show Eddie the back, Bells!" Emmett yelled across the room to Bella. My God, he's more of a doofus than I originally thought. He's a big hearted doofus, but he's still a doofus.

Bella, who was now in the living room, lifted up the back of her skirt and flashed us. She was wearing a thong which meant she was showing us her ass in fully, unadulterated glory. I must have a thing for asses too because I couldn't stop staring the entire time. Bella's ass was perfectly formed—almost sculpted to perfection.

"Edward Anthony Masen! Stop staring!" Alice chided me.

I heard a loud bang come from the left which is where the kitchen was situated. We turned to see Esme, dressed as Morticia from _The Addams Family,_ in the kitchen before she bent down to pick up what she had dropped. Bella and I were the closest and went to help Esme. A large wooden bowl and many pieces of candy were scattered all over the floor.

"Mom, are you okay?" Emmett asked as he entered the kitchen. He kneeled down to help clean up the mess.

"Yes, dear, I'm fine." Esme answered. I noticed her hands were shaking slightly. She looked at me very oddly. There were so many emotions that covered her face at that very moment. I didn't really know what to make of the situation. "The bowl just slipped from my fingers."

That was rather unlike Esme. She seemed very graceful but then again, recently my observations had been wrong.

Esme stood up and placed the bowl of candy on the counter. Emmett reached for a piece but she shooed his hand away. "Emmett, stop encouraging Bella."

"Just because I made the suggestion doesn't mean she has to do what I say!"

"Emmett!" Esme scolded him. "Think of Bella like you do Alice. If you don't want Alice doing something, then don't encourage Bella to."

Emmett half-heartedly agreed. I think he got a kick out of seeing Bella flash me and it didn't seem like Bella minded. Out of the corner of my eye I could see that Rose looked a bit agitated at Emmett. Way to go doofus! I hoped that he didn't ruin his chances with Rose.

Carlisle came downstairs—dressed as Gomez to Esme's Morticia. She asked Carlisle if she could speak to him privately. Since we're not idiots and got the hint, we went outside to the haunted maze. I don't know what they talked about and Esme's little bowl dropping incident was never mentioned again.

The night was a total success. We all had fun scaring the crap out of Mike and Tyler. When Mike was backing out of the maze—after running into Jasper for the second time—I saw that his jeans were wet. I can only assume that the asshole pissed himself. Pussy! There was one adult male who screamed like a little girl when he came face to face with Emmett. I really can't blame the poor guy but it was still hilarious to hear. Emmett later confessed that he was trying his damnedest not to break out laughing. We went easy on the little kids because we didn't want to give them nightmares for the rest of their lives. When the night was over Carlisle informed us that we had raised—with the matching donation—a total of one thousand dollars. The family was still not in agreement on which charity should receive the donation. I knew they'd pick a deserving one.

Looking back on the evening, I don't think I've ever laughed as much or as hard. Cynical me, I had a fantastic time with everyone. I smiled so much the muscles in my face hurt.

I slept over the Cullen house that night, as did Jasper, Rosalie and Bella to help tear down the maze the next day. All of us converged in Emmett's room and talked until the wee hours of the morning. Rosalie and I claimed the couches, Alice and Jasper chose the floor (with an air mattress) and Bella actually slept in with Emmett in his bed. The lights were off and we were starting to drift off to sleep when I heard a noise from the direction of where Emmett and Bella should be.

"Hey, no hanky panky if we're all not getting some." I whispered into the dark.

Bella's soft voice could barely be heard across the room. "Not tonight, Edward, I have a headache." She mumbled. I heard Emmett chuckle low and deep but then everything was quiet. I was skeptical if she was actually talking in her sleep. There was a possibility—small as it might be—that she was just messing with my mind. I was equally divided between the two options until I heard Bella speak softly again.

"Ed-ward."

"Damn sleep talking…" Emmett murmured half asleep himself.

Mmm, this was something I didn't foresee. Someone's sleeping subconscious couldn't mess with someone unintentionally, could it? I wondered if Bella knew just how confused and torn she made me.

My family and I had been in Forks for a little over a month now. I had never imagined I would have grown so close to five people in such a short amount of time. I don't know if I could ever form bonds in another place like I did in Forks. In all honesty, I'm not sure if I'd ever want to. I was seriously going to miss this experience when Halloween rolled around next year. By that time, I'd be in some other stupid town, friendless and depressed, wallowing in my own self pity. Alice took lots of pictures on her digital camera throughout the evening. I needed to somehow obtain copies. Memories only last so long before they fade.

I fell into a deep sleep and dreamt of Bella seducing me in her private school girl uniform.

Oh, fuck me.

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**FYI:** I had thought about having Edward dress up as a Vampire for Halloween but I thought that'd be too much of a cheese fest.

You know what to do! Read? Liked it? Review it! Rec it! Do I have to bribe you again? What do you want? Another wallpaper? Headers? Icons? A teaser for the next chapter? Depending on what you ask for, I might be willing to whore myself out. I'll probably cry myself to sleep at night afterward, but a whoring I may go...


	7. When We Were Young

Many thanks to Birdee for filling in as my emergency beta. 

After I posted _Just Call Him Chuck_, Staysa (check out her AxJ fic _To Love Again_!) and I wondered what Rob Pattinson would look like in a cheesy ass powder blue tux. After a little time googling and some time in PhotoShop, I created a little manip. If you want to see what Rob would look like in a powder blue tux - complete with ruffles, top hat and cane, check out my profile.

I also made some _Legacy_ ads if anyone wants to use them. Check 'em out - on my profile.

FYI: I will soon be posting a long _Twilight_ one shot soon tentively entitled _Drunk Redneck Wedding_. It's purely crackish and fluff. Be on the look out for it!

Also, thanks to all of you who responded after the last chapter. I loved all the reasons why you told me you liked my fic even though you don't normally like AH/AU stories. You're all too damn sweet to me.

Oh, before I forget! A user named Hollow created a thread for _Legacy_ over at Twilighted. The link for it is, of course, on my profile page.

**Disclaimer:** Sigh... I still don't own _Twilight_ or _Dawn_. Instead, I give thanks to Stephenie Meyer and V.C. Andrews for characters and plot inspiration. I'm just playing with them.

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**Chapter 7: When We Were Young**

The next morning we crawled out of our respective beds and took turns showering before heading downstairs. Carlisle and Esme had eaten hours before and were puttering around the house.

Bella happened to be hogging the bathroom on the second floor. I wandered upstairs because, as we all knew, girls took forever in the bathroom. I didn't know what the hell females did in the bathroom that took them so long. Shit, it took me a minute to piss and another seven to shower. What else was important? It must be all that hair and make-up crap. I was damn glad that I had the opposite equipment. My stocking feet quietly padded down the carpeted hallway toward the stairs. I always felt that I had to walk quietly and carefully around the Cullen house. It seemed as if I was in a museum and was going to get yelled at by a security guard. It didn't matter if there was nothing breakable within a ten-foot radius. I was about to take a step down the stairs when I overheard Alice and Jasper's voices from her bedroom and shifted my position to eavesdrop.

"I don't care what kind of excuse you give him." Alice was insistent. "You and Edward are the same size. Take him to your house and let him pick out some of your clothes. He made me promise not to shop for him. You need to help me help him. Does that make sense to you?"

"Yes, honey, but don't you think Edward will get mad at you for this?" Jasper asked exasperated. "The guy's not dumb, you know. He'll figure out you're still trying to give him a new wardrobe, even if it's my hand-me-downs."

I started to back up when I bumped into a hard, solid object that I knew wasn't a wall. Turning, I glanced up to see Emmett standing behind me. "Alice is always up to no good." He whispered and motioned for me to head back down the stairs. Once we reached the second story, Emmett tried to apologize for Alice's overbearing ways. "Maybe I should reword that. Alice is always trying to do good things. She's always trying to be helpful, even if the person she's trying to help doesn't want the attention."

"I can tell." I said matter-of-factly. "The girl does not give up."

We snuck our heads into the study to say hello to Carlisle. Esme, who looked more cheerful this morning, was in the laundry room folding clothes. Emmett and I were waiting for the rest of the gang to head downstairs. I had been eyeing the piano the Cullens had tucked away in the corner of the living room. I finally dared to ask Emmett if I could play it.

"You play the piano?" Emmett asked surprised.

"A little," I confessed shyly. "I haven't had any formal training, but I've picked things up."

"I don't see why not." Emmett motioned to the instrument. "It's Mom's, but I don't think she'd mind if you played."

I sat down and lightly ran my fingers over some of the ivory keys. As was expected, it was in tune. Or at least it sounded like it. What the hell did I really know about pianos? About a year ago I had tried to read music on my own but wasn't too successful. I never took a music class in school because I knew it wasn't something I could pursue. Why torture myself with knowledge I could never use? I found that if I listened to something enough times, I could reproduce the sound if I practiced enough. Sometimes my efforts sounded better than others. My best effort so far was a piece called _Clair de Lune_ so I tried to recall where my hands should go on the keys. I started out slowly until I got into the correct rhythm and knew I was on the right track. Then the melody flowed perfectly and effortlessly.

"I thought you said you only play a little," Emmett inquired.

I spun around on the piano bench to find that Bella, Jasper, Alice and Rosalie had joined us. Esme had stuck her head out from around the corner. As soon as I noticed her there she disappeared, presumably back into the laundry room.

"That's the best I can play," I explained sheepishly.

Bella still looked awestruck while she spoke. "I don't know, I think that was pretty damn good."

I didn't like it when I was the focus of attention so I changed the topic and brought up the subject of food. We were famished, so it was Emmett's idea that we all pitch in and make brunch for ourselves.

Emmett handed me a cutting board with a knife and block of cheddar on it. "Here, Edward, this is the only time that I give you permission to cut the cheese."

"Hardy har har, nice one smart ass."

He pretended to bow. "Glad you enjoyed it, King."

"Who the hell is in my kingdom?" I found a clear space on the counter to put the cutting board. I went to the sink to wash and dry my hands before heading back to my prep area. "I'd like to know who I'm ruling."

Bella was standing next to me and cutting some oranges. "You can rule me, Edward."

That's when the shit hit the fan. Or, more accurately, the knife sliced my finger. My horny teenage brain immediately registered ruling Bella as equal to fucking and my hand that held the knife slipped and now I was bleeding on the cheese.

"Crap, I cut myself!" I exclaimed excitedly. "Do you have a first aid kit, Emmett?"

Emmett grabbed a paper towel and passed it to me. I pressed it against the nasty little cut that wouldn't stop bleeding. "Yeah, but we just call it Dad."

Alice ran upstairs to fetch Carlisle from the second story. When he arrived downstairs he inspected my mangled digit. "It doesn't appear to be a too deep of a cut. You should be fine. Let's get this cleaned up so it doesn't get infected."

He took the paper towel from me and threw it in the garbage. Carlisle applied some antiseptic to the cut which burned like a son of a bitch. I pressed another paper towel to the cut until it stopped bleeding and Carlisle applied a simple band-aid. After he finished tending to me, he returned upstairs to his study.

When I went to throw out the second paper towel, I didn't see the first one in the garbage. I could have sworn that it was in there earlier when Carlisle had thrown it out. Eh, maybe something else was thrown out and covered it up. We salvaged the cheese that I didn't bleed on and continued on with making our brunch. Esme came downstairs in time to help us clean up. I had a feeling she liked her kitchen ordered in a very specific manner. It didn't seem like Esme was OCD about it, but she just wanted to know where to find everything. It made sense since she was the one who cooked ninety-nine point nine percent of the time. Emmett popping popcorn for a midnight snack didn't qualify as cooking, as much as he'd like to think otherwise.

We were sitting around in the living room when my eyes landed on a picture of Emmett and Alice when they were younger. I guessed they were about six and eight years old. His hair was curlier and darker than it was now. It was strange to see Alice with such long hair. I picked up the picture to study it. "Hey Midg, how long was your hair here?"

"It was almost down to my ass." She glided over to where I was, stood beside me and snaked her left arm through mine. "My hair used to be a little curly too but it never grew back the same after Emmett set it on fire."

"Emmett did what?" I asked and turned to Emmett. "You set Alice's hair on fire?"

"It was an accident!" he exclaimed from the other side of the living room. "I wanted to see if Smokey the Bear would come and put out the fire."

I raised an eyebrow at him. "Smokey is all about forest fires! Does Alice look like a fucking forest to you?"

"Yeah! Do I look like a damn forest to you?" Alice firmly placed her right hand on her hip.

"What? I was like eight! I don't even remember how I caught her hair on fire."

Alice took the picture from me, put it back on the end table and touched the ends of her hair with her fingertips. "It never felt right having long hair after that. I can't stand to use a curling iron. The smell reminds me of _burning hair_." She glared at Emmett.

"I put you out, isn't that the important thing? You should show Edward your baby book where you have a head full of curls." He was trying to turn the spotlight of conversation off of him. Emmett crossed the room to the coffee table and was about to reach down to remove an unlit candle from the top of it.

"Let me take that," I said as I grabbed it off the table. "It might spontaneously combust around you. I'm sure you're parents wouldn't welcome you burning down the house."

Bella started giggling from her chair at the counter. "Good one, Edward!"

"The candle isn't lit," Jasper observed.

"No shit, Sherlock. I'm guessing neither was Midg's hair before he managed to set it ablaze." I turned to Alice, who was watching with amusement. "Don't tell me he tried to 'stop, drop and roll' you, too."

"Well, now that I think about it," Alice tapped two fingers over her lips in concentration. "I think had a concussion _and_ burnt hair."

"I cared enough to put you out! Does it matter how I did it? _You're alive_! Listen, Edward, I thought I was the smart ass of this bunch." Emmett sat on the couch and removed the intricate cloth that covered the coffee table. He opened up the lid to reveal a small storage compartment, but what he was seeking wasn't inside. I placed the candle back down after he rearranged the cloth in its spot. "I'll go check with Mom." Emmett rounded the corner to go upstairs when he heard him pretend to pout. "Mommy, Edward's pickin' on me again!"

Rose decided to get in on the act. "I think someone needs a diaper change."

We were all still laughing when Emmett came back downstairs with Esme in tow. "Mom knows where the baby books are," he proclaimed.

"I moved them into the TV cabinet with all the photo albums," Esme announced. She went to the left hand side of the cabinet and knelt down in front of it. Opening the lowest cabinet, she retrieved two books. Esme passed Alice's pink book to her, and she opened it. I sat next to her, and we read through it together. Esme had kept a sonogram, a baby tooth, and a curl of Alice's hair in the book. She had meticulously written down information such as the time Alice was born and her length and weight. I'll be damned if Alice didn't have curls in a picture that was taken when she was one year old.

We looked through Emmett's book together also. I laughed out loud at a picture of Emmett sitting in a high chair with birthday cake smeared all over his face. As expected, Esme had written a few more details in Emmett's book than Alice's. I suspect a lot of parents did that with their first born.

Rosalie and Jasper were the first to head home. Their parents were going to Port Angeles to visit some relatives, and they were being dragged along. Bella was taken home by Alice, who I found out was a speed demon. I didn't even realize that she had her license since she was always in Emmett's Jeep. Emmett was about to grab his keys when Carlisle announced that he'd give me a ride. It seemed as if Emmett needed to mow the lawn since it was a clear day. That didn't happen very often in Forks. Emmett wasn't very happy about it, but Carlisle insisted that he do his chores. It turned out that Carlisle also had been called into work. In his mind it made more sense for him to give me a lift home since it was on the way.

Before we headed to Carlisle's Mercedes, Emmett handed me a back pack. "Here, take this. It's from last year but it's still in good condition. Yours looks like it's going to fall apart soon." I begrudgingly accepted his offer.

On the way home Carlisle tried to make small talk with me. He asked what I was interested in and what I wanted to do after high school. I told him that truthfully, I had no clue what I was going to do. I always knew what I dreamt of doing but it was out of my grasp. Carlisle seemed engrossed in what I was confessing to him and asked me to explain. I informed him that I was always interested in the medical field and music. Biology was my favorite subject. I liked to go to the library and check out specials from the Discovery Health TV network. To me, it was fascinating to watch a surgery taking place. Carlisle asked if I was the one who had played the piano earlier at the house. I confessed that it was, and he congratulated me on my little impromptu recital.

Since I had gone straight to the Cullens from school the night before, I had my back pack with me. As I was making my way to the door, the bottom of my bag gave out and littered my books across the lawn. Damn, Emmett had great timing. I don't think he knew that I had duct tape on the inside bottom of my bag, holding it flimsily together. I transferred my books to the bag that Emmett had donated to me and threw the old one in the trash.

When I walked into the house, Dad was on the couch watching a football game. "Hey, son, how was last night?" His eyes darted back to the TV. "Ah! How could you fumble that? Talk to me during a commercial, k?"

Laughing, I headed to the kitchen to where Mom was stationed. "Whatcha doing Mom?"

"I'm making your favorite cupcakes—Boston Crème." She turned off the old mixer, ejected the beaters from it, and handed me one. "It's the filling."

"Thanks, Ma." I slowly licked the vanilla pudding from the beater, savoring the taste and then placed it in the sink. In between licks from the other beater, Mom asked me how Halloween had gone, and I told her about the haunted maze. Dad seemed to half listen during commercials. He laughed when I mentioned Mike Newton pissing himself. I'm not one hundred percent certain he was laughing about Mike or something on the TV.

"Hey, Ma, do you have a baby book for me?" I asked warily. "I saw Alice and Emmett's today and it got me to thinking that I don't think I've ever seen one for me."

"Of course I made one for you, Edward! What kind of mother would I be if I didn't?"

Curious, I asked if I could see it, and Mom told me it was in the TV cabinet. What was it with storing pictures and baby books in a TV cabinet? I guessed this was more of a common occurrence than I originally thought. I easily found what I was looking for and returned to the kitchen with it. Leaning against the counter, I leafed through it, taking in the information about myself. My little hospital bracelet was taped to one of the pages, the plastic ripped and the typed words smudged on the worn paper insert. Mom had kept the birth announcement from the newspaper, and I learned that I was born at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. She wrote down all the little details like my weight and length. I joked that I was a convenience store—I weighed seven pounds and eleven ounces. My eyes lingered on the pictures of me when I was younger. It seemed as if even Mom couldn't control my hair way back then. Later on in the book I learned my first word was 'Ma' while my second word was 'choo choo'.

"Wait, when did I say Dad?" I asked curiously. "I said 'choo choo' before some form of Dad?"

"You said 'da da' for your third word," Dad proudly proclaimed from the living room. He was still clearly engrossed in the football game as his eyes never left the set. "I still can't believe a damn train came before me!"

"Sorry for that, Father." I said apologetically.

"Touch down! Yes! Whooo!" he screamed at the TV. "What, Edward?"

"It's nothing, go back to your game." Mom and I laughed at Dad's obliviousness.

I finished looking through the book and put it back in the TV cabinet. The game went to a commercial so I quickly filled in Dad with highlights of Halloween night. Afterward, I headed to my room to do some home work.

Some time later, Mom knocked on my door and walked in with a Boston Crème cupcake for me. I made sure that I didn't drop any crumbs and left to throw out the napkin in the kitchen garbage. I didn't want any pets at this time. My bedroom was mouse-free, and I was determined to keep it that way.

In the middle of my calculus homework I found my eyes drifting shut. I let in to my sleepiness and moved my pencil out of the way before I poked myself in the eye. My mind shifted to thoughts of Bella. I dreamt of the smile on her face when she told me I could rule her.

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**Please review!**


	8. A Day to Remember

I just wanted to thank everyone who has been so kind to post reviews the last few chapters. My thanks also go out to Birdee for being my emergency beta once again on this chapter.

This is another long chapter. According to Word, it clocks in at 5,732 words (not including the title and author notes). You may want to go to the bathroom first, get a drink or a snack before you settle in.

Remember, _Legacy_ has a thread at Twilighted. Come on over and join us! I post teasers and you can ask me questions or whatever.

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own _Twilight_ or _Dawn_. Stephenie Meyer created the characters and V.C. Andrews gave me some storyline inspiration.

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**Chapter 8: A Day to Remember**

Two weeks later I was scheduled to take my road test. I found that Emmett had kept his word to me. Not only did he help me change my permit over (I begrudgingly let him pay the DMV fees), but he also let me use his Jeep to practice with. He felt that I didn't need to wait any longer and encouraged me to sign up for a road test. What I didn't expect was our area to be hit with a snow storm that canceled school—on the day of my road test no less.

I was sitting in the living room with Mom watching the _News at Noon_. Dad had gone off to work because it had stopped snowing and had been called in to help with snow removal. He had agreed to go in because he would be paid overtime, and we could use the extra money. I was woken from my news-induced coma by a thundering pounding on the door.

"Yo, Edward! You better be ready for your road test!" Emmett hollered from the other side of the shabby wooden door.

Crossing the room quickly, I embarrassingly flung the open the door. Emmett had never been inside or even this close to the house before. "Shit, they didn't cancel?"

"Hell no, and I double checked too," He glanced down at my sock-laden feet. "Grab your sneakers 'cause you can't drive barefoot."

While I ran to my room to grab my shoes, I heard Mom speaking to Emmett. "Come on in out of the cold, dear."

"Hey, Ma, how are you?"

Mom tried to suppress her laughter at Emmett's antics. "I'm good, Emmett. Thanks again for taking Edward for his road test."

"It's no problem, Ma."

"Yeah, because originally we were going to miss a class from school," I joked. Our parents were going to write permission slips for us to leave early. We were supposed to go back, but I knew Emmett had secretly wanted to ditch the rest of the day. "He doesn't mind whenever skipping school is involved."

"Pishaw," Emmett waved his hand in the air. "Does that sound like me?"

I grabbed my coat and slipped into it. I suppressed a chuckle while I watched Emmett interact with Mom. Minus the trouble making, Emmett somehow reminded me of Eddie Haskell from _Leave it to Beaver_. "Yup, it sounds just like you. Come on, let's go." I headed out the door. "See you later, Ma."

"Good luck, Edward!"

"Thanks," I replied, halfway out of the house.

I tried to pull Emmett out the doorway but he stood still like a statue. A very heavy statue. "If Edward passes, we'll probably hang out and celebrate the good news. We'll call on my cell to let you know what happens. You okay with that, Ma?"

"Sure boys, have fun." Mom smiled and closed the door after us.

Emmett had to drive to the site where the road tests take place. Once there, we waited in a line up of other cars. Each one looked to have an anxious teenager in the passenger seat.

"Dude, just stay calm and you'll do fine. You're a great driver," Emmett instructed me. "If you weren't, I wouldn't have let you continue to drive my baby."

I suddenly felt sick as a woman from the DMV took in the sight of the Jeep. Emmett pulled up into the first spot, and we each jumped out of our respective spots. The woman, whose name was Carol, didn't seem too pleased to have to climb into Emmett's massive Jeep. Emmett offered his help, and she gladly took it.

The road test itself was only a total of maybe three minutes. Looking back, it took no time at all. During the test itself I was nervous, and I thought I'd never get back to the starting point. I thought I was going to get stuck in a snow bank while parallel parking. Carol actually congratulated me on the fact that I kept my cool and knew what to do. I made sure I stopped fully at each stop sign and looked for cars in each direction even though I knew there was nothing coming. When I pulled in next to the curb back at the starting point, Carol didn't say a word. That made me very nervous. She silently wrote on some papers on her clip board. I saw Emmett on the sidewalk, maybe a hundred feet away, watching us and holding up his thumb in a questioning manner. At this point his guess was as good as mine. I tried to shrug my shoulders inconspicuously.

"You can tell your friend that you passed," Carol said solemnly next to me. I gave Emmett the thumbs up sign. She passed me some paperwork. "You're an excellent driver, Mr. Masen. Please continue to drive safely and don't wind up a statistic. Can you get your friend over here to help me down out of this giant?"

I motioned for Emmett, and he ran over like a bullet. He helped Carol down and thanked her for her time. I told Emmett to drive away from the road test site because I was too nervous. I wondered if the DMV personnel could rescind their decisions. It wouldn't be good for me to screw up while trying to pull out after I had just passed.

Emmett passed me his phone, and I called Mom to tell her the good news. The entire time he kept on chanting "Edward passed!" over and over like the doofus that he is. Mom congratulated me and reminded me that I had to be home by ten since there was school the next day. After I got off the phone, Emmett instructed me to call Alice. She squealed so loud in the phone that I had to move it away from my ear.

"Tell Emmett we're heading out now. We'll see you soon!" Alice spat out before hanging up without saying good-bye.

"Uh, Emmett, Alice said to tell you that they're heading out now," I looked at him confused. "What's going on?"

"You'll see!" Emmett grinned like a Cheshire cat. When we pulled up at a house a few minutes later, I realized we were at Bella's. "She has the best damn hill behind her house for sleigh riding."

"Sleigh riding?" I asked curiously. "Are you serious?"

"What? I'm a big fucking kid. I can't give up sleigh riding yet," Emmett frowned. "Don't judge me!"

As we were climbing out of the Jeep, the front door to the Swan house opened up. Bella ran out to us and greeted me with a hug.

"I heard you passed! Congrats, Edward!" she said enthusiastically. I was never more grateful that she had a heavy coat on. Bella arms were wrapped around my middle, and she was snug against me. I didn't know if I could have handled her hugging me the way she was without some kind of barrier.

"Thanks, Bella," I smiled down at her. "Emmett tells me that you have some doozey of a hill behind your house."

"Damn straight! Come on let's get the sleds out of the garage."

Before I could make a move, I was pelted with a snow ball directly in my face. As I was wiping the snow away, I heard a loud 'thwack' sound and Bella screamed Emmett's name. Blinking rapidly, I raised my hands to guard my face and searched for Bella. "Are you okay?"

"Yes!" she declared, clearing her face of the cold, hard packed snow. "Emmett! You know what this means!"

"War, baby, war!" Emmett screamed while packing another snow ball. "Just try to get me!"

"Come on, Edward, let's take cover!" Bella grabbed my hand and led me behind some bushes. We knelt down in the snow, and she started gathering the white powder into her glove covered hands. "How well can you throw? I suck."

Oh Jesus, did she have to word it that way? I shook my head to get the thought of her sucking anything out of it. "You make 'em, I'll throw 'em," I informed her and kept my eyes on Emmett. He had accumulated several snow balls and was ready for war.

The snow had a thin layer of ice on top of it. I crouched down, gathered some of the broken ice, and patted it into my snow ball. With snow ball in hand, I continued to watch Emmett and as he bent down to gather up more snow, I made my first move. I quickly made my way out of the bushes and hid behind a tree closer to my target. Emmett was standing and his eyes were roaming the area.

"Oh, Edward, where are you?" he called. "I see you've left poor Bella all by herself!"

My eyes shifted between Emmett and Bella. Emmett was making his way toward Bella when I jumped into action. I darted from tree to tree, stepping at the same time Emmett did. His loud, crunching foot steps into the snow covered the sound of my own footfalls. He didn't even realize that he was covering for the enemy! My heart was pounding as I approached him. The closer I got to him, the faster and harder my heart raced. Bella, who had been watching silently, stood up behind the cover of the bushes.

"What are you? Like two, Emmett?" she questioned loudly. I used this time to my advantage and inched closer to Emmett, taking care to step into his deep foot prints. He was crouched over slightly in an attack stance.

"Revenge!" I pounced toward his back, one arm going around his shoulder for leverage and the other heading toward his face. The snow ball smacked him right in the center of his face.

"Ah, you got me!" Emmett yelled loudly. "I've got ice pellets up my nose! Ya got me!"

I wished Bella would have given me a warning. She could have yelled "Timber" or something similar to get my attention. As I dangled from Emmett's back, I heard a car down slam before we fell backwards. I hit the snow, and then Emmett landed on top of me.

"Emmett! You big oaf!" I yelled. "I think you just shifted all my internal organs!"

I heard Alice's voice before I saw her. "Are you trying to kill Edward?!"

Emmett rolled off of me and started laughing before he reached out and helped me to my feet. "Wow, look at the indentation in the snow." My eyes wandered down to where we had fallen. Indeed, the depression into the snow was deeper than our footprints. It looked as if we were trying desperately to make a misshapen three armed snow angel.

"Dude, you okay?" Emmett asked.

"I think so." I dusted the snow off the back of my pants. "I guess that's the price of war, huh?"

"Edward, that was awesome," Jasper patted me on the back. He had the longest cord of rope I had ever seen wrapped around his forearm. The rope was so long it trailed off of Jasper and was wrapped loosely around Alice. "I've never seen anyone manage to sneak up on Emmett like that. What's your secret?"

I had no secret. It was pure, dumb beginner snow ball war luck.

"I ain't telling! You might use my tactic against me," I winked at Bella who had seen the entire encounter. "Don't you tell!" I threateningly wagged my finger at her.

Bella shook her head back and fourth. "Cross my heart!"

"Are you up for some sleigh riding, Eddie?"

"Sure, Midg! We have to get the sleds out of Bella's garage," I informed the gang. "We were about to do that when Emmett declared war."

The six of us went to the garage to dig out the sleds. They were the typical long red plastic ones that you could get at Wal-Mart. Each guy had a sled in their hands as we trudged through the woods and up the short hill behind Bella's house. When we reached the top I looked down. The other side of the hill wasn't so short. Thankfully, it wasn't full of woods either.

"Shit, now, this is a hill!" I gulped. The steep hill had plenty of snow drifts which made certain areas higher than others. At the bottom was an open meadow. I bet it looked pretty in the summer, all green with the sun shining.

"It used to be a cow pasture," Bella informed me as she led us toward a tree. I watched as Emmett and Jasper tied the rope around the tree and then let it loose down the hill.

"What's that for?" I questioned.

"You can pull on it to help you get back up the hill," Jasper told me and then passed me a pair of new gloves. "You're going to need these, or your hands will be not only frozen but raw too."

I took them and thanked him and Alice. I knew she had to have something to do with the gloves. Taking a moment to assess the situation, I decided that I was going to try to give Rosalie a chance to be alone with Emmett even if that meant spending time with Bella.

It'd be such a sacrifice on my part.

Grabbing Bella's hand, I dragged her a few feet away from the group. "Come on, what are we waiting for?"

Her laughter was music to my ears. "You have to hold on tight to me so that I don't go flying off the sled when we hit a bump."

Down, dick, down!

"I'm not dead weight like Emmett. We might just both go flying off that sucker together I guess!" I set the sled down, and Bella sat down in it. Jasper and Alice had gotten into theirs, and Emmett was trying to squeeze himself in behind Rosalie.

"Salsa shark, I think you need a bigger boat!" I laughed and quoted a movie we had just watched last week.

"We need to produce a line of adult sleds. I bet we'd make a ton of money!" Emmett stated before finally slipping into place. Rosalie looked over to me and mouthed 'thank you'. I winked back at her. "The first ones to the bottom of the hill are the winners."

We all yelled a count down and took off on the count of three. After I pushed off the hill, I wrapped my arms around Bella, my hands latching themselves around her middle. She laid her hands on top of mine and squeezed them through my gloves. I rested my chin on her shoulder as we raced down the hill. When we hit the first snow drift, we flew into the air and Bella screamed. I wrapped my arms around her tighter. I didn't feel the sled underneath me for a few moments and then we landed back on it and continued down the hill. The cold air whipped through my hair and coat. We had gathered speed, and I found it hard to keep my eyes open with the air rushing at us.

I felt… an amazing high at that moment. A type of exhilaration that I'd never felt before. I wanted to yell out, "Whoo hoo!" Now I understood why Emmett still enjoyed sleigh riding. Maybe I was still a big kid myself.

Bella and I were the first to make it into the meadow; the sled hit a patch of ice and did a complete three-sixty. We continued to sit in the sled, my arms still wrapped around Bella, and watched the others slide down the hill. Jasper and Alice hit another patch of ice and slid way past us, giggling the entire time. Emmett and Rosalie had hit a snow drift and took it the wrong way. Their sled slid down the hill without anyone in it. The two of them were sprawled on their backs on the hill in the snow laughing while their sled stopped when it hit into the one Bella and I were in.

"Hey, someone bring our sled up here to us, k?" Emmett yelled down to us.

"Will do!" Bella yelled back.

"Are you ready to go again, love?" I squeezed my arms around Bella at the same time I questioned her.

She turned her head toward me with a slight smile on her face. "Let's go!"

I had our sled in one hand, and Bella had grabbed Emmett and Rosalie's. Alice and Jasper were ahead of us, using the rope to help them climb back to the top of the hill. I had to admit, the rope was a fantastic idea. When we reached Emmett and Rosalie's location, Emmett took their sled from Bella and followed up the hill behind us.

When we reached the top, I noticed that Rosalie looked more excited than I thought she should be. Sure, we were having fun, but she looked down right giddy. Emmett was telling Jasper and Alice how bad they hit the snow drift. Rosalie came over to me and grabbed my arm, and pulled me slightly away from the others.

"I asked Emmett to the Snow Ball dance!" Rose exclaimed. "And he said yes!"

"See! I told you that you had nothing to worry about," I gave her a quick hug and saw Bella watching us. I wondered what she'd do about the dance now. Since she had always gone as friends with Emmett I hoped she wouldn't be hurt over the fact that he was going with someone else. "When did you ask him? When the two of you were stuck on the snow drift?"

"I thought it was as good of a time as any," Rose stated with a wide smile. "We were laughing and having fun. 'Emmett, would you like to go to the Snow Ball dance with me?' I asked. And he said he'd be honored to!"

Rose was bouncing in place, ever so slightly. "Go ahead and do it. I know you wanna jump up and down and giggle like a little school girl," I laughingly told her.

She grabbed my shoulder and jumped up and down and before I knew she wrapped her arms around me and had me in a sideways hug. "Thanks for the encouragement, Edward."

Emmett left the others and walked over to us. "What are you two doing over here?"

"Just talking," I said. "You know, about sleigh riding and um, stuff."

Emmett's one eyebrow shot up. "If you say so." He turned to Rose and extended his hand which she readily took. "Are you ready for a second run?"

"Sure am!"

The cold but fun afternoon continued on into the early evening. We continued to race down the hill, and it was usually Bella and I that won. I knew I was around Jasper's size, but he looked to have more muscle mass than me hence, he'd be heavier. I came to the conclusion that Bella and I reached the bottom first mostly because our lack of weight. We were able to glide down the hill faster than someone like Emmett who'd get bogged down in the snow. However, one time Bella and I hit a snow drift, and our sled continued down the hill without us. We landed sideways in a soft pile of snow with my arms still wrapped around her.

It was twilight out when we decided to head back to Bella's house. We decided that we were all cold, hungry, and tired. Emmett called Esme to let her know that she wouldn't have to worry about any of us for dinner. Bella had promised to warm us up with some hot chocolate and then make us something to eat.

Bella led us into her house and instructed us to take our coats and shoes off immediately. I went into the kitchen with Bella to help her with the hot chocolate while the others headed to the living room. I really wasn't much of a help at all. I stood around watching while trying to warm myself up because I was still freezing my ass off.

"Edward, are you cold?"

I was rubbing the opposite arm with each hand, trying to create some warmth. "Yeah, I'm freezing. My coat is a piece of crap."

"You should have told us!" Bella set a cup of milk with the hot chocolate mixture into the microwave and set the timer. "We could have gotten you bundled up more or come in sooner."

"I didn't think of it at the time. I was having so much fun outside," I said through my chattering teeth. "I just have to warm up, that's all."

Bella wrapped her arms around me and ran her hands up and down my back. I nuzzled my cold nose in her warm, chocolate hair.

"Ahem." Someone cleared their throat from entrance to the kitchen.

I looked up and Bella turned around. "Oh, hi Dad!"

Chief Swan was in his house, and his daughter was holding onto a strange boy.

I hoped his police-issued shot gun was out in his police cruiser.

Hell, I hoped he didn't carry a pistol.

His right eyebrow arched up in a questioning manner. "Bella, who's your friend?"

Bella smiled at her father and linked her arm through mine. "This is Edward Masen. Remember, I told you about him?"

His right eyebrow went down while his left eyebrow arched up. "Oh yeah, the new kid you all befriended, right?"

"That's right."

"Hi, nice to meet you Mister… um, Chief Swan." My voice sounded squeaky like I was thirteen all over again. I cleared my throat.

"He goes by Charlie," Bella informed me quietly.

Charlie's left eyebrow went down and his right one went back up. What the hell was with the eyebrow dance? "Chief Swan is fine."

"Dad! Be nice, now!" The timer on the microwave chimed as Bella was chastising her father. "Edward is my friend!"

"Sue, Seth, and Leah are coming over tonight," Charlie conveniently changed the subject. "Sue's bringing dinner for us."

Bella groaned and rolled her eyes. She removed the mug of hot chocolate from the microwave and passed it to me. I took a sip and appreciated the warmth that spread through me upon tasting it. Bella placed another mug into the microwave. "Great, I already told everyone I was going to cook for them since we've been out in the cold."

"Sorry, honey, you have to change your plans," Charlie was leaning against the counter, sorting through some mail. "You can blame it on me."

"Well, it is your fault!" Bella huffed and walked quickly out of the kitchen leaving me with her police-issued shot gun carrying father. He glanced at me.

"Um, I guess I'll go into the living room with the others," I told him, my eyes not able to keep contact with his.

"Yeah, why don't you do that?" Charlie's eyebrows danced again. "Nice meeting you, Edmund."

"Edward," I supplied.

"Okay, Edbert,"

I ignored him and quickly walked out of the kitchen, shaking my head. I had made such a wonderful first impression on Bella's father that he didn't even want to acknowledge my name correctly. Bella was upset that she couldn't cook for us and apologized profusely. Emmett told her that it was okay and that if Charlie had made previous plans without her knowledge that it wasn't her fault. He told Bella that she owed him a plate of her spaghetti a lá Swan at a later date.

Much to Bella's chagrin, Charlie wanted her to stay at home for the night. Sue's husband, Harry Clearwater, had died two years ago from a massive heart attack. Charlie and Harry were best friends, and Charlie had promised to look after Sue and her kids. As it turned out, Charlie had no problem with his promise to Harry. It just happened that Charlie and Sue started developing feelings for one another and had been dating for about six months now. Bella claimed that she didn't have any problems with the situation because her father was happy. She got along great with Sue and Seth but Leah was a different problem altogether. Bella described Leah as a "moody, bitchy young woman who put a darkened cloud over anyone she was near."

Leah sounded so fun. She must be a hit at all the emo parties.

Bella ushered us out before their guests arrived. I was the last out the door and I felt her take her hand into mine. "Edward?"

"Yes, Bella?"

"Thanks for holding onto me today." She reached up and quickly kissed my cheek. "I'm glad you had fun."

I just squeezed her hand even though I wanted desperately to kiss her back. My lips ached for it, but my brain overruled my desires. "Thanks for having us. I'll see you in school tomorrow."

The rest of us headed into town and decided to split some Chinese food. Alice issued a challenge that we use chop sticks. Emmett complained that he was hungry and wanted the food to reach his mouth and not the floor of the restaurant. Jasper and I agreed with Emmett and overruled Alice. She was not happy. Rose tried eating with the chop sticks but gave up after a pile of rice fell onto her lap. Alice was the only one proficient enough with the chop sticks and didn't drop a grain of rice.

We goofed off at the restaurant for a while, hogging the booth. We each opened a fortune cookie and read our fortune out loud.

"'You are going to have some new clothes'," I read aloud. "Midg, did you stuff this cookie yourself?"

"I did no such thing, Eddie!" Alice giggled from across the table. "Okay, here's mine…' Your present plans are going to succeed.'" She smiled at me slyly. "Jasper, honey?"

"'You have the rare ability to recognize ability in others'," Jasper announced. "Rose?"

"Um… 'It's time you asked that special someone out on a date.'" Rose fidgeted nervously in her seat.

Emmett smiled across the table from me and read his fortune. "'You lead a useful life no matter what riches are coming to you.'"

We continued to chat for another couple of minutes before we started getting dirty looks from the employees. It was getting late anyway, so I suggested that we head out. Rose had driven her car so she and Jasper left after Rose extricated her brother from a lip lock with Alice.

I helped Alice into the Jeep and we were on our way to my house. "Midg, my fortune cookie better not come true!" I warned her.

"Oh, pishaw," Alice replied back. Like brother, like sister.

"So, Edward, I think you understand my love of sleigh riding now," Emmett stated seriously.

"I have to admit, just this once, that you're right." Emmett grinned knowingly at me. "See you two tomorrow!"

"Night, Eddie!" Alice patted my shoulder from the back seat.

"Night, Midg!" I said as I jumped down from the Jeep. As I headed toward the house I realized that the Jeep still hadn't moved from its spot along the curb at the corner. Emmett was probably waiting until I got inside before he left.

I stood on the porch, about to touch the door knob when I heard muffled noises from inside. Although I couldn't hear anything concrete, I could tell that my parents were arguing. This was a first, at least that I knew of. I had never heard my parents fight before. I jumped over the porch railing and to the side of the house. I followed the sound of my parents' voices to the back of the house and stood outside of their room. I still couldn't hear every word they said, but their voices were louder. I was surprised at the angry venom that was in my father's voice. I had never, ever heard him yell in such a manner at my mother, myself, or anyone for that matter. I stood there for another minute, absorbing the few words that I managed to hear.

Edward.

Cullens.

Leave.

I stumbled toward the house for support. Turning around, I slumped down the battered siding and into the snow. I should have known that our time in Forks was too good to be true. I had opened myself up to a group of people, and now I was going to be ripped from away from them. From my parents' words, I somehow felt that our next move was my fault. What did leaving Forks have to do with me and the Cullens? I wondered if my father didn't like my friendship with Emmett. Did he think that Emmett was a bad influence? Did I spend too much time with my friends and not enough with my family? I thought my parents understood or they would have asked me to stay at home more. They would have done that, wouldn't they? I would have stayed home more if they had asked.

I brought my knees up to my chest and rested my forehead on them. I had tears in my eyes at the thought of leaving this stupid, rinky dink town.

"Edward?" Emmett's hushed voice came from around the corner before I heard him bang into a metal garbage can. A flood light from the next door neighbors came on and shined brightly in my eyes. "Son of a bitch," he mumbled softly.

"Be quiet, you big oaf," I whispered carefully.

Emmett rounded the corner and easily spotted me on the ground. "What's going on? Why didn't you go inside?"

At that precise moment my father raised his voice again. "Uh oh, are your parents fighting?"

I glanced up at Emmett and I felt a tear fall down my cheek. "Yeah, I don't know what's wrong. I've never heard them fight before."

He slid down next to me in the snow. "I was concerned when I saw you jump over the railing and not come back. I made Alice stay in the Jeep."

"Smart choice," Sniffing, I rubbed my eyes, not wanting to cry in front of Emmett.

"What are they fighting about?"

"I'm not sure," I sadly informed him. "I heard my name, 'Cullen', and 'leave' all together. I can only guess that my time here in Forks is going to be limited." My body shuttered to hold back a sob.

Emmett placed one of his big arms around me. "Do your parents not like you spending time with us? Maybe they don't like me, but I don't know why. I didn't think I was that much of a smart ass to your mom. I'm sorry if I was."

"I don't know, Emmett. Maybe they think I'm spending too much time away from home? Mom never told me that she thought you were rude or anything. They seemed to be happy that I had friends here." I held my hands over my face to hide it.

"Come on, let's go back to the Jeep," Emmett got up from the snow and I followed. "Let's get you warmed up."

Emmett placed a hand on my shoulder and led me back to the Jeep. Alice was quietly sitting in the back, and I was surprised when she didn't utter a word. I sat back in the seat and sighed, wiping the tears from my eyes.

"I have an idea," Emmett said. "You can call your parents on my cell and let them know you're on your way home. It'll give them a warning, you know?"

I thought it was a good idea and the best thing that could be done in this situation. Walking in on them arguing was not something I wanted to do tonight. I called the house, and my Dad answered, his voice still sounded angry. It was actually getting close to my curfew, so I disguised the call as an apology that I was running late.

The three of us sat in the Jeep in virtual silence for the next fifteen minutes. I was never more grateful that Emmett and Alice seemed to understand that it was better not to question me at the moment. At 10:05 I decided that it was time to face the music and go home.

"Thanks for waiting with me, guys," I told them. "I appreciate it."

Alice's head popped out from the back seat. "Let us know if we can do anything else, okay?" She patted my shoulder for the second time that night. I knew Alice had no clue as to what was going on, but I was sure that Emmett would fill her in on the way home.

Again, I walked toward the house. When I reached the door, there was no noise this time. I was halfway into the house when I waved at Emmett and Alice so they would leave. Then I entered the house cautiously. Mom was in the kitchen at the sink washing dishes.

"Hey, Ma," I greeted her, my voice low.

"Are you okay, Edward?"

"I'm fine, just tired," I partially lied. Though I was tired, it wasn't the reason why I felt the way I did. "We went to Bella's and had a snow ball fight and then did a lot of sledding."

"Oh, to be young again!" Mom turned off the water and dried her hands. "Did you eat?"

"Chinese."

"I've been craving that! I'm tired too, so I'm going to hit the hay, k?"

"Night, Ma." She reached up and kissed me on the cheek. "Love you."

"Love you too, Edward." She hurried down the hallway to their bedroom.

I headed to the bathroom first. When I looked in the mirror I was surprised that my face didn't deceive me. I thought it looked like I had been crying. My mother had covered well, but I knew she was still upset since our conversation was so short. Normally, she would have asked more questions about my day, but tonight she rushed off to bed.

Entering my bedroom, I listened for any noises from my parents' room but heard nothing. I lay down on my mattress and wrapped myself in the flimsy blanket. Staring at the ceiling, I began to wonder how I was going to say good-bye to five people who had come to mean so much to me.


	9. We Love WalMart

**Disclaimer:** By now, I hope that you know I do not own Twilight or Dawn. I thank Stephenie Meyer and VC Andrews for the inspiration.

Many thanks to Birdee who beta's faster than Edward running after a baseball. Love and hugs to Staysa for her encouragement and constant bugging me about when I was going to post another chapter (go check out To Love Again!). I would like to post once a week but I have arthritis and it's in my hands. Last week I suffered from a flare up that still isn't totally gone. For four days I was unable to do much of anything with my left hand. Opening my car door, typing, folding laundry, holding a hair dryer - you name it - I couldn't do it. The rest of the time I was tired, uninspired and busy with Christmas shopping.

Last but not least, a big thank you to everyone who continues to comment and send their support my story. It means a lot to me. This is another long chapter, so prepare to settle in for a few minutes...**

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****Chapter 9: We Love Wal-Mart**

Needless to say, I found it was very impossible to sleep that night. I stared at the ceiling for the longest time, wishing I could will my eyes to close. I counted the tiles in the ceiling, the cracks in the wall, and tried to play "Clair de Lune" in my head. I continued to question how I would say good-bye to the gang. Never before did I have such a horrible dilemma. I never let myself get close to anyone before, and now, after we left Forks, I vowed I'd never make the same mistake again.

It hurt too damn much.

As morning was dawning, my eyes slid shut and I slipped into a fitful sleep. I was awakened by my mother shaking me violently.

"Edward!" she shouted, shaking my shoulder furiously. "Edward, wake up, honey!"

Groggy from my lack of sleep, I rolled over and rubbed my eyes. "Huh? What's going on?"

"I didn't realize that you didn't wake up on your own," Mom said. "You need to get going so you can hop a ride with us."

Pushing the covers off of me, I got up as quickly as possible. I was dog tired from the lack of sleep. When I entered the bathroom, the memories of last night came rushing back. I pushed them to the side and showered more quickly then I ever had in my short life. Mom passed me a blob wrapped in foil as we all exited the house together. She had to work later on this morning so she was driving us to the high school and then taking the car to the Thriftway. When I played with the foil I was happy to see that the blob was bacon, egg, and cheese slapped haphazardly on a hard roll. I'd need the protein to get through my day.

I was quieter than usual in most of my classes. My mind was otherwise preoccupied on thoughts of leaving Forks and my friends behind. Would my parents even give me a warning when we were about to leave? I didn't want to move without saying good-bye. In English, right before Emmett kicked my chair to alert me to the fact that the teacher was asking me a question, I had managed to form a plan. I was going to write good-bye letters to each of my friends. Now, I just had to figure out how to put into words the way I felt about each of them. After we left, I'd sneak off to a post office mail the letters to the Cullen house.

In Photography, Emmett cautiously asked me how I was doing. To be honest, I don't even remember if I answered him. At lunch I determined that Emmett had informed Alice of my predicament but no one else. The two of them sat on either side of me, as if to protect me from leaving. Somehow Bella, Jasper, and Rose seemed oblivious to my changed mood.

Emmett elbowed me in the ribs to get my attention, leaned in close and whispered softly near my ear. "Edward, I've been thinking. Instead of walking around for the rest of your time in Forks like a zombie, why don't you make the most out of it? Don't close yourself off to us and act like you're not here before you're gone."

I thought about what he said and let his words sink in. It wouldn't do me any good to shut myself off from the gang before I had even left. I should enjoy the time I had left with my friends to the fullest extent. "Damn, you're smarter than you look, Emmett," I told him, and he grinned. "I'm sorry if I've been acting out of sorts today."

"It's totally understandable." He turned his attention toward Bella. "So, Bells, whatcha gonna do this weekend while we're away?"

"Where are you going?" I asked, confused. It was the first time I had heard about Emmett going anywhere.

"We're going skiing this weekend," Alice supplied. "Our parents, Jasper, Rose and their parents and little sister are coming too. Wanna come and join us?"

"Rachel can stay home for all I care." Rose mumbled quietly under her breath.

"Oh, no! Midg, I won't let you buy me clothes, what makes you think I'll let you pay for a ski trip?"

Alice sighed. "I foresaw that you'd say no, but I thought I'd be polite and ask anyway. Maybe you can hang out with Bella this weekend."

"What are you gonna do?" I curiously questioned Bella. The thought of spending time alone with Bella excited and frightened me. I wanted to spend time alone with her, but I was only going to get more attached to Bella by doing that.

"I think I'm going to make a trip to Aberdeen and go to Wal-Mart."

Wal-Mart! The word was like music to my ears. The sky opened up and heaven was shining down brightly at me. Wal-Mart! The thought of once again walking into a Wal-Mart was such an odd turn on at that moment. "Really? Can I go with you?" I asked excitedly.

"You want to go to Wal-Mart with me?" Bella looked stunned at my question. "Alice hates Wal-Mart, but it's what I can afford."

"Bella, for a seventeen year-old male, I have an unnatural love for all things Wal-Mart." I said and she smiled widely at me. "Okay, except their customer service. A lot of times their employees leave a lot to be desired, but their prices can't be beat. It's what I can afford, too."

Jasper sat across from me with his head in his hands mumbling, "Wal-Mart is ruining the American economy."

"Jasper doesn't like Wal-Mart's business practices very much," Bella said, rolling her eyes. "He could go on and on about why I shouldn't go to Aberdeen. He's taken too many business electives if you ask me."

"Well," I blew a raspberry at him. "Not all of us are trust fund kids and can afford to shop at Abercrombie."

Alice patted Jasper's hand. "Get over it, honey."

"Hey, Wal-Mart is the only place where you can get a hair cut, have your nails done, have lunch, shop for clothes, medicine, food, toys, music, take your kid to have their picture taken, get gas and new tires for your car without having to leave the building," I stated a matter-of-factly. "Okay, so you can probably do all that at the mall but I kind of hate malls in general. Add a movie theater to Wal-Mart and it'd be like the greatest place on earth to me."

"Edward," Bella said my name softly. She was dreamy eyed. "I think I love you."

Emmett started laughing. "Edward, I think you just made Bella's day with your Wal-Mart love. I know she's in agreement with you about how great that place is."

"Eddie," Alice was giggling. "Have you had your nails done at Wal-Mart?"

"No!" I said. "I know that it's possible though."

The weather forecast for the weekend was clear and snow-free. Emmett wanted to take his Jeep because they were going up in the mountains where the weather could change at the drop of a hat. Rose told Bella that she could borrow her car because it would take all day to get to Aberdeen in Bella's old pick up truck.

I had to work that afternoon at the Thriftway, so Emmett dropped me off after school. After clocking in and checking with Cameron about my work duties, I spotted Emmett at the register talking with my mother. It seemed that he was suddenly thirsty since he was purchasing a soda. Needless to say, I had no idea what the hell he was up to.

The next afternoon Jasper asked me to visit his house before we headed over to Emmett's. Having overheard the conversation between Alice and Jasper, I knew where this little trip was headed but played along. Rose drove us to their house, and we went up to Jasper's bedroom. Sitting on the big king sized bed, Rose filed her nails and watched the two of us in front of the large closet.

Jasper opened the doors and got strictly to the point. "Look, Alice wanted me to do this for you." He pulled some clothes back toward his direction so the closet was separated. "I have way too many clothes. You can pick from anything on that side." He pointed toward the side closest to me.

"What did your little midget promise you that you ended up going along with this?"

"You know?" Jasper asked slightly shocked.

"I overheard her instructing you to do this," I told him.

Rose glanced at us and giggled from her place on the bed. "Busted."

"Damn," Jasper stated. "The things that woman let me do to her in order to convince me to give away my wardrobe." His lips were turned into a brilliant smile.

"What things?" I asked stupidly before it dawned on me. "Wait, wait, do you mean you exchanged sexual favors for me?"

"There are some things a sister does not need to know about her brother," Rose said, getting up from the bed. "I'll be waiting downstairs while you two do what the hell ever you're going to do." She closed the door behind her.

"Alice said she'd replace whatever clothes that you chose so this way she wasn't technically getting you anything new," Jasper explained. "And yes, some sexual favors were involved."

"Do you know what this means?" I asked Jasper.

"No, what does it mean?" He seemed confused as to what I was thinking about.

I smirked at him. "You're a whore! You're a dirty, filthy whore! And what's worse, you whored yourself out for another man."

"I am a whore!" Jasper shook his head. "Damn it! But you know what? You don't have a girlfriend right now, so you don't know what it's like. You don't wanna know the things that Alice let me to do her just so that I'd let you raid my closet."

"You fucked it up! You're supposed to get her to do things to you. You really are a whore."

Jasper raised his eyebrows at me. "Oh, don't you worry! The things that I did to her led to her doing things to me. I didn't fuck up that part of the deal one little bit."

"As long as you're a happy camper," I said while rifling through some shirts. "I like this one, whore. Are you sure about this one?"

Jasper once again pointed to the side of the closet closest to me. "Anything on that side is fair game. The other stuff I really like so it's off limits."

I didn't want to come across as a greedy bastard and take Jasper's entire wardrobe, no matter how much he whored himself out for me. In hopes that Alice would drop her entire "clothe Edward campaign," we both decided it'd be best if I took about a week's worth of clothes. To our surprise, Jasper's jeans fit me pretty well. They were a little baggy in the ass and I needed a belt, but otherwise we were comparable size-wise. I ended up leaving his house with five pairs of jeans and seven shirts. I'd pick up some more shirts along with socks and underwear at Wal-Mart. I was not taking used underwear from Jasper, no matter how many sexual favors Alice promised him or whatever the case may be.

For the rest of the week I tried my best to be upbeat around my friends. When I wasn't around them I found that I fell into a funk. I was excited when Saturday finally rolled around. Not only had I not overheard my parents fight anymore, but I was spending the entire day with Bella. A part of me really hoped and prayed that my parents would change their mind about moving away from Forks. I decided that I would compose my letters just in case my hopes were dashed. Bella picked me up bright and early at seven o'clock since it was a two and a half hour drive to Aberdeen. She picked up bagels and hot chocolate for us and refused to let me pay her back.

"Damn, this is a nice car," I stated as I sat down in Rose's convertible. Afraid I was going to make a mess and be castrated by Rose, I was extra careful with my breakfast.

"Ain't it?" Bella answered. "I'm so nervous about driving this thing, but my truck doesn't go over fifty miles an hour."

"Ouch, that's bad."

"Yeah, and it's so old, so it's better to take something more reliable and from this century."

"I have to agree with you," I said. "Not only do I want to get to Aberdeen sometime today, but I want to get there before dinner time."

Bella stuck her tongue out at me. I started to imagine all the things that her tongue could do to me. Oh, that was a bad train of thought to start chugging along. I felt like such a sexual deviant—I turn the most innocent things into a turn on. What the hell was wrong with me?

Oh yeah, I was an average seventeen year-old male. Stupid me.

We talked and listened to music for most of the ride. After we stopped for a bathroom break, Bella insisted that I drive for a while. I didn't want to drive Rose's car, but Bella said that based on Emmett's glowing reports of my driving skills, Rose had given me permission. I was so damn nervous the entire time I sat in the driver's seat. Thankfully, Bella understood my nervousness as a new driver and kept the distractions to a minimum. If we went off the road, how the hell would I explain to a police officer that Bella distracted me simply by speaking and my over stimulated hormonal teenage brain twisted her words into a sexual fantasy? Concentration was vital!

Overall, the drive was easy enough because we stayed on the 101 until we hit Aberdeen. We made good time and pulled into a parking space at 9:45. When I walked through the threshold of the store I felt like I should drop to my knees and kiss the ground. I was that thankful to be in a Wal-Mart again. We decided it'd be easier if we stuck together for the time being. I didn't own a cell phone and it'd be a pain in the ass to search the entire store for one another. Grabbing a cart, we headed over to the men's department first. Bella helped me pick out some shirts, and she insisted that I try them on to model them for her. I embarrassingly did so, and she laughed her ass off the one time I tried to imitate a model walk for her. Wal-Mart had their own brand of jeans that happened to be in my price range—super cheap—so I picked up two pairs with a darker wash. When I tried the jeans on, Bella told me that I had a nice ass.

My cheeks—the ones on my face—felt hot and were probably redder than a tomato. "Uh, um, I, uh, um… thanks, I think," I responded stupidly. "No one's ever told me that I have a nice ass before."

"Well, you do," she said with a nod of her head. "And now you know."

Time seemed to fly when we were together. Bella and I went to the McDonalds inside Wal-Mart to have lunch before we continued our little shopping extravaganza. We went to the electronics department to check out some music since she was unable to download it off the internet. Bella had an ancient computer with dial-up access. I told her that she was luckier than me—I had no computer at all. We both searched through the CD's and found a few that we'd like to buy however, I was probably going to go home without any.

I noticed a CD that Bella was looking at. "You like Trans-Siberian Orchestra?"

"Hell yeah, they're awesome!" she responded. "They meld that rock and classical music style so well. Ooh, _Christmas Eve and Other Stories_ is on sale for only $7.99, Edward."

"I'm gonna be out of money. Can Emmett or Alice make me a copy?"

"I'll make 'em make a copy for you." Bella told me. "They have tons of blank CDs and stuff."

In the fitness aisle Bella had to try out all of the display items. It was physically painful for me to watch her stand on this little disc the size of a Frisbee and twist her hips. I mean, hello hard on! I stood nearby in case she fell off the blasted thing. Bella being Bella, she did lose her balance and started to crash to the floor before I caught her. When she looked up at me with a huge smile on her lips with laughter escaping from them, I wanted to kiss her right then and there.

But I'm a lame ass chicken, so I didn't.

I grabbed a large Rubbermaid container and shoved it into the cart. It was cheaper than a dresser and my clothes would be safer from any rodents.

I followed as Bella headed into the aisle with the camping supplies. "Oh, a tent is set up!" she exclaimed happily and headed toward it. Indeed, a tent was set up on a large display stand. Bella undid the zipper and peeked inside. "No occupants!"

Then she crawled up onto the damn display table and into the tent. For some stupid reason, I pushed our cart to the side of the aisle and hopped into the tent behind her.

Stupid, stupid, stupid me.

"This is nice and roomy," she beamed at me. Bella was lying down and reading a card that listed all the tent's attributes. "Oh, it has a built in air mattress. That's why the floor is soft."

I lay down next to Bella. "Luxury camping, huh?"

"I guess so!" Bella rolled to her side, snuggled close to me and draped her arm around my waist. My entire body tensed at the contact.

"Bella, we should probably get out of here." Her hand slid across the waist band of my jeans. "We don't want to get banned from the store, ya know?"

"Oh, if we must." Bella glanced up at me and slowly inched her way up my body. Her hand slipped under my sweat shirt as her lips gently brushed my jaw.

"Bella, I…" my voice trailed off as I turned my head toward her. Our lips were mere centimeters apart.

At that very moment, there were so many things that I wanted to do. I wanted to tell Bella that I felt something for her. I wanted to bury my face in her beautiful brown hair and inhale her equally beautiful female scent. I wanted her hands to roam my body with free reign. I wanted to touch her to find out if she was as soft as she looked. I wanted to caress her face with my finger tips. I wanted to simply hold her in my arms. I wanted to let her kiss me. I wanted to kiss her back.

I…I wanted to do a lot of fucking things.

"Hey, you two kids, get out of there! This ain't no freakin' motel!" I looked at the entrance of the tent to see an angry, old, balding Wal-Mart employee watching us.

"Cockblocker," Bella mumbled into my neck.

"Sorry, sir, we were just trying the tent out," I lied. "We're planning a camping trip for the spring and wanted to plan ahead. Is layaway available here?"

Bella rolled to her side and shook the air mattress with her body. "Yeah, this is comfy. It'd be perfect for that rocky campsite."

The confused Wal-Mart employee shifted his eyes between the two of us. "No, sorry, Wal-Mart no longer has layaway."

"Oh, well!" I sat up in the tent. "Come on, love, let's continue our shopping."

Bella started to crawl out of the tent. Oh, Jesus, have mercy on my crotch. Bella had on a tight pair of jeans that displayed the shape of her ass to perfection. The sight of her on her hands and knees was not helping me one bit. I bit my lip to stifle a primal moan. My jeans were starting to feel more and more uncomfortable and tight. "Bella?" I crawled out of the tent. "In case no one has ever told you, you have a very nice ass yourself."

At first she looked a little shocked but then she smiled. "It's about time you noticed my ass."

"Oh, this wasn't the first time I appreciated it," I confessed honestly.

The Wal-Mart employee, who happened to be still standing there, cleared his throat and started to walk away, shaking his head. "Damn kids," he muttered. "I'm not even supposed to be here today!"

I looked at Bella and we erupted into a fit of giggles. "Don't you need clothes?" I asked when I could breathe again.

"Yeah, come on," she nodded toward the women's department. "Let's get crackin'."

Once there, I wished I stayed behind in the tent by myself. Bella started to look at bras and panties. She held up a dark blue lacey set and asked my opinion on them as she placed them against her body.

"Uh, I, uh… yeah, pretty," I stuttered out.

I tried to stop my brain from imagining the aforementioned underwear on Bella. It didn't work. Shit, I was standing in the women's department of Wal-Mart with Bella and a raging hard on. This is not how I had planned my day. Bella sensed that I was less than enthusiastic about her underwear purchases. However, that really wasn't the case. All the blood from my brain had started to pool to other places in my body, and I couldn't form a coherent thought. I gazed in the opposite direction as she made her selections. I remembered that I needed to grab some boxer briefs and socks. I ran back over to the men's department for a few minutes and then rejoined Bella.

Thank you, Lord, for Bella's decision not to try the undergarments on. I was only human and could take so much abuse. I think I would have busted a nut right there in Wal-Mart if she had paraded around in underwear in front of me. As it was, I'd have to wait until I got home and suffer some self abuse tonight.

I never knew a trip to Wal-Mart could be so torturous.

Bella went on to try on a pair of jeans and asked me how her ass looked in them. "Mighty fine," I responded and she smiled.

Happy with our selections, we headed toward the check out. As usual, there were not enough registers open, and we had to wait in line. While we were waiting, Bella stepped behind me, pressed her body flush against me and wrapped her arms around my waist. I tried to imagine what it would feel like to have her bare breasts against my bare back. That mental image came in loud and clear and then I took a snap shot and filed it away for later.

"I'm resting for the trip back," she explained. "This is one long ass line so tell me when you're going to move." In the lane next to us, there was another guy that looked to be my age. He eyes roamed over Bella in a perverted manner and then gave me the thumbs up sign. I felt an overwhelming urge to punch him even though he was bigger than me.

Fifteen full minutes of torture later, we reached the register. On the way out Bella suddenly stopped in mid-stride. "Let's get our pictures taken!"

Turning to see what she was talking about, I noticed a photo booth against the wall. I didn't even know those things still existed. Bella pushed the cart over to it and checked out the prices. Luckily she had enough money and she stepped inside, pulling me in after her. The damn booth was small, and Bella ended up sitting on my lap. I was very thankful that she scooted forward toward my knee and didn't press herself against my erection.

"Okay, there are five pictures on a strip so for each one we do a different pose. The first one should a nice, normal pose with us smiling." Bella fed her money to the machine. I leaned forward and gently wrapped my arms around her waist. "Smile!"

*click*

"Goofy faces!" Bella instructed. We stuck out our tongues and contorted our faces.

*click*

Bella turned toward me and pressed her lips against my cheek.

*click*

I turned toward Bella and pressed my lips against her cheek. Briefly, I wondered what the next pose would be.

*click*

Bella quickly turned to me, turned my face toward her and placed her lips on mine, kissing me. Her lips were soft and tasted like her strawberry lip gloss.

*click*

She continued with her slow assault against my lips. I closed my eyes, threw caution to the wind and kissed her back. Bella reached up and cupped my cheek with her hand. I heard a throaty moan and pulled away.

"Bella, stop." I was a dumbass in more than one way. The girl I've been wanting kissed me. The girl I've been wanting kissed me and I told her to stop. Neither one of those options should have never, ever happened. I was viciously banging my head against that invisible brick wall once more. "Bella, we can't do this."

I was surprised when she didn't question me. She looked slightly upset but just stared at me for a few seconds before she kissed me on the cheek and jumped out of the booth.

"Bella, I-"

"Please, don't Edward." She cut me off and grabbed the strip of pictures. "Come on, let's get going."

As we made our way through the parking lot we were stalked for our parking space. We loaded Rose's car with our new found items, and Bella said that she'd drive. We had only gone a little bit down the road before she pulled off the road and into another shopping plaza. Bella stopped and parked in front of a Staples Office Supply store.

"I'll be right back," she said as she exited the car. While I waited for her to return I continued to bang my head against that brick wall and berated myself.

When she got back into the car she pushed a manila envelope in front of me. "Here, these are for you." I opened the envelope and found a good quality copy of the pictures from the photo booth on photo paper. "So you'll always remember today."

I wouldn't need the pictures to remember the events at Wal-Mart. They would be burned in my memory forever. After we moved away from Forks the pictures would help me remember Bella. They would help me remember kissing her and the feeling of her in my arms. The way she made me feel when she was around me. How I wanted to let my guard down and let her more into my life than ever before.

Yes, those pictures would forever be a reminder for me. They'd remind me not get close to someone again. They'd remind me of how much it hurt when I did.

On the way home we listened to Bella's new Trans-Siberian Orchestra CD. There was an odd silence between us, and I didn't know what to say to break it. I figured that whatever I said was going to come out wrong. The two and a half hour ride seemed to take forever. We stopped halfway back to stretch our legs, and then I took over the driving duties. Bella had her head resting against back of the seat, and she had fallen asleep. At a stop sign I turned and my eyes lingered on her until a car came up behind us and honked its horn.

Fuckin' bastard.

I parked the car at the corner by my house. I hated to wake Bella, but it had to be done. "Bella, love, wake up." I shook her slightly so I wouldn't startle her. "Bella, wake up."

Her eyes fluttered open and she grinned at me. "We're back already?" she asked, wiping the sleep from her eyes.

She got out of the car and stretched while I ran my things into the house. I went back to the car to say good night and found her already behind the wheel, ready to leave. "Are you okay to drive?"

"Yup, I'm good," she gazed at me awkwardly. "It's only a short ride to my place from here. Thanks for going with me today."

"No problem," I said and bit my lip. "Drive safely, okay?"

"I will," she said and paused for a moment. "Wanna come over and watch a movie tomorrow?"

"Sure, sounds good."

"Okay, see you tomorrow," she said with a smile and pulled away from the curb. I watched until the car was out of sight and headed back into the house. My parents were out, and I had no idea when they'd be back.

I threw my clothes into the Rubbermaid container and placed it in my room. Grabbing the pictures from the photo booth, I headed toward the bathroom. I stared at Bella's beautiful face and imagined what she'd look in the dark blue, lacey undergarments she bought and suffered some self abuse.

* * *

**A/N:** Yes, the closest Wal-Mart to Forks is in Aberdeen which is two and a half hours away. Yes, you take the 101 to get there. Yes, there is a McDonalds in said Wal-Mart. Yes, there is a Staples right down the road. I know these things because I have this weird obession with finding out these little facts for my stories. I'm weird, I'll deal with it.


	10. Makin' Out Is So Hard to Do

Wow, you ya'll came out for the last chapter. Within four hours I had gotten 22 reviews for Chapter 9. You made me all smiley and shit. I frequent the forum at Twilighted and have made friends there. However, over at Twilighted _Legacy_ has almost 2,000 more hits than here there but way less reviews. Readers just do not register and review over at Twilighted and it makes some of us frustrated. So, a big thanks to all of you over here at ff[dot]net that do take the time to review. I love you's something hard. As I said, you make me all smiley, giddy, and shit. If you want a preview of the next chapter, when I have it, let me know in your review and you shall receive.

I hope everyone had a great holiday, which ever holiday you may or may not celebrate. My family had three major Christmas Calamities this year. I was sick, but that doesn't count. My brother, who just had a second back surgery before Thanksgiving, slipped on ice and fell. We thought our Uncle Budd had a stroke and an aunt took him to Urgent Care. Thankfully, he just has a case of Bell's Palsy which will go away. And then, for an encore, my father slipped on the ice and broke his collar bone. It's a good thing my other brother went out to look for my father because my Mom probably would've ran him over when she got home.

All that happened on Christmas day. You know, they say bad things happen in three's but holy shit, give a family a break! Okay, I'm done rambling for now… settle in, this one is another _long _chapter!

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own _Twilight _or _Dawn_, credit for those two gems is issued to Stephenie Meyer and VC Andrews. I'm just playin' with their characters and plot lines.

* * *

**Chapter 10: Makin' Out (Is So Hard to Do)**

_Dear Jasper,_

_If you're reading this letter it means that my family obviously had to move again. I wanted to let you know that I'm very grateful for your friendship. _

_I'll always remember when Mr. Drummond asked Staysa Forbes who the sixteenth President of the United States was. Staysa, who had been staring at you for the last ten minutes, simply blurted out, "Jasper Hale." Without blinking, you glanced at her and said, "In between Lincoln and Johnson, there was Hale." I mumbled something about you looking pretty damn good for being alive back in the 1860s. The entire class erupted into laughter, including Drummond. We never did tell Alice about the Staysa incident, although I'm sure someone in class told her about it._

_You better keep treating Alice like the Queen that she is. I can't say that I'd come back and kick your ass if you didn't, but I know Emmett would. That alone should be enough to keep you in line. I wish the two of you the best of luck. You were made for one another._

_Thank you for the clothes, the fun times and, most importantly, letting me be your friend. I appreciate everything you have done for me and will always remember you, whore. _

_Your friend, _

_Edward_

One letter down and only four more letters to go. I wished Jasper's letter was more heartfelt. To be honest, I was kind of sad that Jasper was the one person out of the group that I had spent the least amount of time with. It wasn't that we disliked each other or anything, I liked him just fine, but for some unexplainable reason, it happened that way.

I was lying on my mattress in my bedroom, contemplating the thoughts swirling around in my brain for my letter to Rose. The unexpected knock on my door was accompanied by my father's voice. "Edward?"

"Come on in, Dad."

"That cute girl you're friends with is on the phone," he said.

Leave it to dear old Dad to be so very unspecific. I got up from my position on the floor and started toward the door. "Dad, I'm friends with three girls and I think they're all cute."

"My son knows how to pick his lady friends," he said with a sly smile. "You're lucky I know their names are Belspar, Alec, and Rosiland."

I rolled my eyes at him and continued into the kitchen to the ancient phone. We had to be the only house in the entire state of Washington that still had a corded rotary phone. "That'd be Bella, Alice, and Rosalie," I informed him.

"Hey, I got the first letters right, I should earn points for that." Dad settled back on the couch with Mom.

"You could never remember the little details to save your life. What's our wedding date?" she asked but didn't wait long for him to answer. "You don't know! Don't keep your girlfriend waiting Edward, answer the phone."

Girlfriend. Huh. Right.

As I picked up the phone I heard my father start to speak again, "Edward's got himself a girlfriend? Hubba hubba."

"Hello?" I said into the receiver. "Dad, stop acting like a moron."

"Edward, I am not your father," a sweet voice stated from the other side. "That'd be really freaky and weird."

"Bella?"

"Oooh, so his girlfriend's name is Bella?" Dad asked from his position on the couch. Mom was glaring at him but he didn't seem to notice. "I hope she's not a hoochie mama."

I placed my hand over the receiver. "Next paycheck I'm looking for a cheap cordless phone! Bella is _not_ my girlfriend and she's not a hoochie mama, thank you very much."

"Thanks for sticking up for me," Crap, I hadn't covered up the receiver well enough. Bella had heard me stick up for her but, she also heard me state that she wasn't my girlfriend. It was the truth, so I hadn't done anything wrong in that aspect. However, I the tone in my voice when I insisted that she wasn't my girlfriend could be considered a tad harsh. I heard Mom asking Dad how'd the hell he'd know what a hoochie mama was. "Would it be so bad if I _was_ your girlfriend?"

"Um…" my voice trailed off as I heard my father bellow from the living room.

"Woman, it was August 10, 1990! How do you like those apples, huh?" Mom was shaking her head back and forth at Dad. Did he take a crazy pill that morning?

"Bella, when can I come over?" I asked. "My father is currently acting like a bigger doofus than Emmett."

"I was calling to see if you wanted to have lunch here or not."

I turned to look at my parents. Mom pretended to smack Dad across the back of the head and told him to shut the hell up. "If you have something to feed me, I'll come over now," I said eagerly. "I'd be happy to get out of the pysch ward early."

"I'll see you soon," Bella giggled. "I hope you don't have to commit your father."

"I'm not making any promises," I said. "See you soon."

I walked into the living room and stood in front of the television. My parents were now making out on the couch like two teenagers. "You two are totally grossing me out. Where the hell do you keep the blunt knives? I need to poke my eyes out, thanks to you."

"Peter!" Mom playfully yelled. "Get off of me!"

Oh, Jay-sus. That's something you never want to hear your mother yell at your father. "And where's the bleach?" I asked. "I need to clean my eyes."

Dad sat up and straightened his t-shirt. "If you're going to poke your eyes out, why do you need the bleach?"

"It's an extra precaution. I need to make sure I get the image of you and Mom making out on the couch outta my head!" I turned my head sideways and raised my hands, my pointer fingers crossing each other. "There are some things a son should never have to see!"

The next thing I knew, I was wrestling on the damn living room floor with my father. I managed to get him on his stomach and pinned his arms behind his back. "Say it, old man! Say it!"

His dark brown hair was falling into his eyes. He tried to blow it back and glowered at me. "I'm not old, damn it!" I kept my position and heard him expel a large breath out of his lungs. I knew he was going to attempt to flip over, so I put more pressure on his pinned arms. "Okay, okay, I tap out! You can wrestle with your mother now."

"No tap outs!" I said. "Say it, old man!"

"I will not make out with Mom on the couch," he said. "Are you satisfied?"

"That will do for now." I slowly eased the pressure I had against his arms and backed away. It wouldn't have surprised me if he had tried to get me back into another wrestling position. Instead, he got up and went over to Mom, who was still sitting on the couch. Grabbing her hand, he practically dragged her into the kitchen and kissed her against the counter. You know, the counter where Mom makes my lunch and shit. Bleh.

Dad looked at me over Mom's shoulder and said, "I didn't say anything about the kitchen!"

Mom shook her head and I started laughing. "I'm going over to Bella's. You two play nice while I'm gone, k?"

Dad picked up the keys to the station wagon from the counter and tossed them to me. "You can take the car; I don't think we'll need to go anywhere today, right Mama?"

Fuckin' A.

Mom buried her head into Dad's chest and giggled. I pretty much figured that my parents still had sex but I didn't need a front row seat to their foreplay. Ick. "For the love of everything that is good and holy, you two kids go to your room! There better not be any new weird stains anywhere in this house except in your bedroom when I get back!"

I had my hand on the doorknob when I heard my father's voice again. "Play nice with Bella!"

There were so many things that popped into my head to say to my father, like, "Make sure you cover Peter Jr." and "If I shouldn't enter the house, make sure there's a tie on the door," but I barely squeaked out, "I'll be back later."

My father, who had been downright gloomy and emotional lately, was now in a much better mood. I could only hope that his better state of mind might somehow play into us staying in Forks for a longer period of time. However, I knew that we wouldn't stay in Forks forever. Could they possibly wait and stay until I made my own decision for my future? Judging by my past experience, I thought it was highly unlikely.

I arrived at Bella's a few minutes later and parked the ancient station wagon behind her equally ancient pick up. The door flew open before I even knocked, and Bella stood in the doorway with her usual smile for me. I was really hoping she wouldn't stay mad at me for yesterday's Wal-Mart incident. From the look on her face she wasn't letting it get to her. I always kept in mind one thing my father told me about women, "Women are like elephants that never forget! Women never fucking forget and will drag whatever incident up and go on and on about something until you cave." You know, my father is smarter than he looks, really he is.

"Are your parents drivin' you nuts?"

"Bella, they were making out on the couch while we were on the phone."

She grimaced. "Ew, you poor guy. Let's get you something to eat." Bella placed her right hand in my left and guided me to the kitchen. She made grilled cheese sandwiches and warmed up leftover chicken soup that she had made earlier in the week.

"I made the soup myself," Bella said. "No canned stuff."

"Well, aren't you just a regular Martha Stewart?" I winked at her. "It's really good."

"Martha's crafty too," she said. "I'm more like Rachel Ray. I've got the kitchen stuff down. I'd probably burn myself or the house down with a glue gun."

It felt really natural to stand next to her while she washed our dishes. I grabbed a towel, dried the dishes, and not knowing where they went, and neatly arranged them on the counter. "I know you've seen _Clerks_ with Emmett but have you seen any of the other movies by Kevin Smith?"

"No, he's made other movies?"

"Oh, you are a Kevin Smith virgin. We need to pop your cherry hard."

I gulped and cleared my throat. "Kick a man when he's down."

"Charlie doesn't agree with my choices but, I have everything Kevin has been involved in with the exception of _Scream 3_ which is just stupid."

"Everything?" I asked.

"Even _Drawing Flies_, _Vulgar,_ and the _Clerks_ cartoons," she announced happily.

"I've never heard of those other two movies," I said. "They made _Clerks_ into a cartoon?"

"Kevin Smith virgin."

"Stop kickin' me when I'm down!"

Bella grabbed my hand and dragged me through the kitchen and living room, and we started up the stairs to the second floor. "Um, aren't we going to watch a movie?" I asked.

"The DVD player doesn't work down here and I keep my movies in my room," she explained. "Otherwise, Charlie would totally throw out the ones he doesn't approve of. In that case, I wouldn't own a single DVD."

Before I knew it, I was standing in Bella's bedroom. She had a little television cart stationed across from the foot of her bed. Kneeling in front of it, Bella searched the storage compartment and shoved a DVD at me. "_Mallrats_," she announced. "The second movie in Kevin's inaccurately named Jersey trilogy. It's inaccurately named because five movies ended up in the trilogy. I personally think _Mallrats_ was very overlooked at the time of its release."

"Whatever you say," I said and handed the DVD back to her.

Bella turned on the TV and DVD player and started the movie. It came to my attention that I was faced with a very bad dilemma. Where in the hell was I going to sit? There was Bella's bed, the floor, and a chair in front of her small computer desk. Oh, shit. I knew where this was going.

Bella walked over to her bed and propped herself up against the headboard. "Unless you plan on standing the entire time, get over here, silly."

I stupidly obeyed and found myself folding a pillow in half and lying down on Bella's bed. I was comfortable and able to see the screen, but Bella was so close to me that I wasn't sure I was going to be able to pay attention to the movie. Within minutes of the movie starting, Bella moved and placed herself directly next to me like when we were in the tent at Wal-Mart. She even slung her free arm across my waist and placed her head right below my shoulder in that little crook of my armpit. Thankfully, I remembered to put on deodorant today so my pits didn't stink. It was so hard for me to keep my concentration during the movie. At one point, Bella shifted her hips slightly and tangled one of her legs with mine. I then realized that the arm that Bella was laying on wasn't all tingly from being asleep like I thought it would be. Instead, my hand was on her waist.

I'd never been so damn comfortable in all my life.

I had to laugh when it was revealed that the gypsy fortune teller had to take off her shirt to tell fortunes. I was a little nervous because I thought I was going to get a hard on when I saw her breasts. I don't know if it was the fake third nipple or what, but I wasn't turned on. When Bella kissed me I got hard. But yet I saw actual boobage—complete with what could be considered an erotic third nipple—and it did nothing for me. I didn't get it. Was something wrong with me?

At the end of the movie, Bella sat up and got off the bed from her side. I really expected her to try some stunt like climbing over me. "I'm gonna use the bathroom quick," I said, getting up from my spot on the bed.

Bella said she was going to dig out _Chasing Amy_ and then run downstairs to get a glass of water. I asked her to please get me a glass too. When Bella got back upstairs, we drank our water and she asked me if I liked the movie. We talked about "Mallrats" for a few minutes, which made Bella explain to me her fear of dressing rooms.

"Once I saw _Mallrats_ I was so scared that someone's head would break through the wall of the dressing room," she said, laughing. "It's a strange phobia."

"I must confess," I told her. "I'm not a big fan of dressing rooms really. What if some sicko installed cameras to catch people changing?"

"Trust me," she said. "The thought has crossed my mind. I try to change as quickly as possible. Much to Alice's dismay, I won't try on bras in Victoria's Secret. We have actually bought stuff and gone out to the car to try it on. The employees think we're totally odd when we bring it back a half an hour later."

"Wouldn't everyone see you changing in a car?"

Bella shook her head. "We take Jasper's car and it has tinted windows. You can't see in." Hell, I didn't even know Jasper had a car of his own.

At the mention of Jasper's name I was reminded that Bella didn't know about his clothing donation. I filled her in on the particulars—including Alice's part. "And that's why my new nickname for Jasper is whore," I said. "You know, short for dirty, filthy whore."

Bella almost spit out her water when she started laughing. She wiped her mouth with her hand, but a drop of water had managed to get free. It slid down her neck and lingered at the base of her throat. Without thinking, I reached out and brushed it away with my thumb.

Cue yet another awkward moment between us. They were really starting to stack up now.

"So, uh," Bella cleared her throat. "Are you ready for _Chasing Amy_ now?"

I started back to her bed. Bella hadn't used the other pillow on the bed, so I grabbed it to use. I had even better neck support with the additional pillow. Bella started the movie, spun around on her heels, and stared at me for a moment with the oddest, most indescribable look upon her face.

"Are you going to get over here and settle in before the movie starts?"

"Aw, shush," she said. "I'm coming."

Bella lay down next to me, much like before. Somehow, this time she was even closer to me. I wrapped my arm around her and placed my hand on her waist again. Her hand didn't settle at my waist like before instead, it was up slightly higher, toward my chest. I instinctively weaved my fingers through hers and beat my head against the invisible brick wall once more.

Stupid Edward, stupid Edward.

About halfway through the movie there was a loud pounding on Bella's bedroom door. The person on the other side didn't wait for an answer, and the door flew open. Bella's father, the man who owned a police-issued shot gun, was in her doorway. We were both so into the movie—and maybe each other—that we didn't hear Charlie come home. I hadn't moved a muscle and neither did Bella. We weren't doing anything but watching a movie, but you try telling that to a father of a teenage girl. My eyes darted to Charlie's hips to see if he had a holster and a pistol. He didn't have a holster, thank God, but that didn't mean he didn't own one. His bedroom was also on this floor, and he might be quick. If I had to climb out Bella's window, I prayed there was a tree to latch onto.

"And what do you two think you're doing?" he asked. His eyes were questioning my every move, so I froze. Charlie's left eyebrow was raised in annoyance.

"Can't you tell?" Bella let go of my hand that was resting across my chest. She pointed to the television. "We're watching a movie."

Charlie's left eyebrow went down, and his right one went up. "Why don't you watch the movie downstairs?"

"Dad, the DVD player in the living room hasn't worked for eons."

"You could've hooked yours up down in the living room." Charlie's right eyebrow lowered, and his left one went up.

"Why go through all that trouble, Dad? You never watch DVDs," she said. "You're always watching sports."

The eyebrows switched again. Right was up and left was down. Shit, it was entrancing. "So, Edbert, what are you doing up here with my daughter?"

Crap, I had to speak. "Like Bella said, we're just watching a movie, sir."

The left one was up, and the right one was down. What the hell was with the eyebrow dance again? I thought the last time it was just a fluke. Could he make them dance to techno music? I wondered how many beats per minute he could make them go. Charlie could make a bundle on an eyebrow exercise tape.

"His name is _Edward_, father."

"Edmund-"

"Edward!" Bella sat up on the bed and screamed. "Stop being an ass, Charlie!"

Charlie made his way over to my side of the bed. Oh shit, he was going to lift me out of the bed and throw me out the window, wasn't he? "Let me see your hands, boy."

He stopped in front of me, and I raised my hands to him. I noted an eyebrow switch again, but I was trying to keep my breathing even so he couldn't see how much of a chicken shit I really was. Charlie bent down and… _sniffed at my hands_. What the fuck?

"Charlie, what the hell do you think you're doing?" Bella asked.

"Checking to see if the two of you have been fooling around."

"Oh, my God!" Bella yelled at her father. "Charlie, you wouldn't know what a pussy smelled like if it was right in front of your face!"

Charlie dropped my hands and straightened up. Oh yes, there was an eyebrow switch. In fact, I think there were several switches. "Bella, please don't be rude to your father because of me."

Charlie's eyebrows twitched instead of switching. Bella stared at me with her mouth half open. "He…he… Charlie… grrr…rude asshole!" she pointed at Charlie.

"Yeah, listen to Edward, don't be so rude to me," Charlie said, shocking the fucking hell out of me. Call Guinness, he got my damn name right! "I'm looking out for my little girl."

"Sir, I swear, we were just watching the movie when you came in. We were cuddling. Doesn't your girlfriend Sue like to cuddle?" At the mention of Sue's name, Charlie blushed and huffed his way across the room, muttering something about "freaking cuddling," and closed Bella's door behind him. "I guess your father isn't a cuddler, huh?"

"That was brilliant, Edward," Bella giggled. "I've never seen Charlie blush before."

"Hell, I thought he was going to throw me out your window," I confessed.

Grabbing the remote, Bella scanned back to the scene we last remembered viewing before Charlie burst through her door. We lay back down and settled into our previous position. After a few minutes we heard the front door slam and then the sound of Charlie's police cruiser start up and pull away.

Bella, who had been behaving, returned to her previous wicked ways. Pausing the DVD, she raised herself up and planted one leg on my other side, effectively straddling me. Oh, holy crap! Her hands reached for my face, and her lips crashed into mine. Bella's body was completely against me. In fact, she was mercilessly grinding her pelvis into mine. At first I didn't react. Much. My lips moved against hers, but I kept my hands to myself, planted firmly on either side of Bella's legs. Oh yes, those nice, smooth legs.

And then something happened to me. The switch in my brain that controlled my raging hormones flicked on. Hell, it was flipped into overdrive. I wrapped my arms around Bella, one hand landing on one of those firm ass cheeks and the other at the back of her neck. Bella's delicate but very talented lips traveled from my mouth down my chin and across my neck to my earlobe. She bit down and sucked on said afore mentioned earlobe, which made me stupidly press Bella's ass down. That, in turn, pressed her groin into my groin even more. And if you think that neither of us groaned at that point, you'd be very stupid and naïve.

I didn't know how long this went on. I lost track of all sense of time at that point. My mind was muddled with many thoughts, and I was trying to concentrate on kissing Bella. Unsure of what I was doing, I let Bella lead the way. At one point I thought she was pulling away from me, but instead she moved us to our sides, facing one another. One of Bella's hands went up the back of my shirt; her hands were cool on my overheated skin. Was I odd because I found it to be a total turn on when Bella dug her short fingernails into the skin near my shoulder blades?

I went ahead and made a bold move—I pushed Bella onto her back and placed myself between her legs. She planted the bottom of her feet into her mattress and squeezed my thighs with her legs. Both of her hands made their way up the back of my shirt. I littered kisses along her neck, earlobe, and the base of her throat but yearned to return to those beautiful lips.

A sheer moment before my lips returned to Bella's was when I heard the most beautiful words ever spoken, "Mmm, Edward." The fact that Bella was moaning my name was enough to break me from the spell that I was in. I placed my lips against hers for one last time and then broke free. Untangling myself from Bella's grasp, I hurried off the bed, across the room, and to the door.

"Shit!" I banged my head on the heavy oak door. You know, real doors hurt a hell of a lot more than the imaginary one I always seem to be up against. I rubbed my forehead.

"Are you okay?"

"Yes."

"What's wrong with you then?" Bella asked from her place on the bed. "Why did you stop?"

I banged my head on the door again. I was going to give myself a headache. "I'm sorry, Bella, we shouldn't have done that."

"Don't you like me, Edward?"

"I like you just fine, Bella." Ouch. As soon as the words left my mouth I realized how much of a stupid ass mistake I had made. Earlier, I had referred to Jasper that way. You don't refer to a girl that you just had a hot and heavy make out session with as liking them "just fine." I turned around, and my heart broke at the sight in front of me. Bella had drawn her knees up to her chest, and her chin was against them. It wasn't just her pose but the expression on her face that made my heart ache. Bella was about to cry, and I had done that to her.

"You like me 'just fine', Edward? Really?" she said. "Are you gay?"

"When my body was pressed against yours, did it feel like I was gay?"

"Are you bi? Is that it? You can tell me. What is it?" she pleaded with me.

"I'm not gay," I said. "I'm not bi, I only have on set of organs and all that jazz."

"Then what the fuck is your problem?" Bella asked. "Why do you always push me away?"

I approached the bed slowly and sat down in front of Bella. She haphazardly wiped a tear from her cheek. "It would be best for the both of us if we didn't do that again. We need to remain friends. I'm sorry, but I should have stopped you before things got out of hand."

"But you didn't seem to mind when we were cuddling." I saw the confusion in her eyes.

"I can't do anything with you that I wouldn't do with Alice or Rose," I explained.

"So you'd cuddle with them, but you wouldn't kiss them?"

"Right," I said.

"What the fuck is wrong with me?"

I closed my eyes and exhaled. When I opened my eyes Bella was still staring at me, a single tear falling down her cheek. I moved closer to her and hugged her the best way I could considering our positions—I wrapped my arms around to her back and rested my head lightly on top of hers. "Nothing is wrong with you, Bella. It's me. Trust me, it's all me. I wish things could be different, but they aren't. Maybe one day you'll understand." Maybe she'd understand when my family abruptly left Forks and she never saw me again.

"Edward?"

"Yes, love?"

"Can you please leave now?" she sniffed.

"If that's really your wish." I leaned over and gently placed a kiss on her temple. I didn't miss the fact that she winced when my lips grazed her skin. "It's not you, Bella. Trust me, it's me," I whispered near her ear before I raised myself the bed and headed to the door. My body moved like I was weighed down. I glanced back at Bella before I closed her door. Sluggishly, I made my way down the steps and out the front door, locking it behind me.

How I managed to get home, I'll never know. The entire ride was a blur, and I didn't even remember most of it. I was in such a daze that I could have run someone over and never would have known. When I entered my house I slammed the door, which raised the attention of my parents. Dad was sitting on the couch, reading a magazine, and he raised his eyes to me for my actions. "Don't slam the door, Edward."

"Whatever," I mumbled and headed to my bedroom.

"Edward, don't 'whatever' me," Dad said. "Get back here, son. What's wrong?"

"Nothing!" I screamed without looking back and opening the door to my bedroom. "Leave me the hell alone!"

My breathing was rapid as I threw myself on the mattress on my floor and barely registered the fact that my parents were speaking in loud voices outside my room. I was sure my father wanted me to apologize for my behavior. If that was the case, Mom would be trying to calm Dad down and would be telling him that I needed time. Eventually, their voices disappeared and I continued to lie on the mattress, staring at the ceiling.

If I wasn't so damn sure that we'd be leaving Forks, would I have pushed Bella away? Fucking hell no. Who was I kidding? We probably would have gotten to second base before I stopped her. Hell, maybe even third base.

I calmed myself so that I was breathing normally again. I was thirsty but didn't want to risk opening my door and going into the bathroom. Crap, there weren't any cups in there anyway. I'd have to lap at the water from the faucet like a dog. As I was seriously contemplating leaving the safe confines of my bedroom, I heard a soft knock on my door. I knew it had to be my mother. "Come in if you dare," I said softly.

Sure enough, Mom opened my door and she carried a glass of water with her. I never mentioned how sensitive Mom was to my needs, did I? Shit, the woman rocked. Mom walked over to my mattress and sat down, handing me the glass of water. She waited until I drained the glass before she spoke.

"Edward, what's wrong, honey?" Mom was more tactful than Dad. He and I were too much alike—we'd let our anger get to us and then we'd just get more pissed off at each other over nothing. Mom knew that something was wrong but that I needed time to calm down before I opened up.

"Bella likes me. I like Bella," I sighed. "And there's nothing I can freakin' do about it."

"Oh, I think you two have already done something about it," Mom stated mysteriously.

"What?" I hated when people talk in riddles, but yet, that's what I did to Bella today.

"Your neck, honey," Mom smiled at me. "I do believe that Bella left a little… um, love bite."

"I have a hickey?" I asked a little too excitedly. "Where?"

Mom leaned over and pointed at the one side of my neck that I remembered Bella had lingered over. "It's not large but it is a little noticeable."

"Crap. Is it coverable with make up?"

Mom confirmed my question with a nod. "I'll help you in the morning with it. Now, you two evidently got close today, so why are you upset?"

"Kissing Bella was a big mistake. I should have never let it happen. I should have stopped her and not kissed her back."

"Oh, so she initiated the kiss?"

"Yes, when she straddled my lap on her bed." Oh shit, did I just say that to my mother?

"Was anyone home at Bella's?" I probably gave Mom the totally wrong idea about Bella. She probably thought Bella was some whore, out to corrupt her poor little son. If she only knew that, out of all my relationships, Jasper was the whore.

"Charlie, her father, stopped in," I informed her. "Ma, I swear, I was just there to watch movies with her and hang out. We were lying down on her bed, watching a movie and cuddling. We were just cuddling, okay? After Charlie left, Bella hopped on top of me and attacked me with her mouth."

I could tell that Mom was trying not to laugh. "Does one of us need to have 'The Talk' with you?"

I groaned. "I know how babies are made, Mother. I know about AIDS, HIV, STDS and all that stuff. I know to use a condom if I ever get that far with a girl or she's gotta be clean and on the pill, but condoms are best."

"That wasn't awkward for either one of us, was it?"

"Hell no, Ma." She couldn't see that I was inwardly cringing.

"So, why was kissing Bella a mistake?"

"Because I can't be with her."

"Why can't you be with Bella?" She wasn't giving in easily, was she?

"Because… because," I bit my lip momentarily. "It would hurt me that much more when we moved. Again." There, I said it. I laid out my fears to my mother.

"I'll talk to your father; I'll see what we can do to stay longer than we normally do."

"Please, don't," I pleaded. "He'll just get mad at me. If something happens with the job at the high school, I don't want to keep us some place we can't be just for a girl."

"Edward, don't worry about it. I'll talk to you father. He'll understand."

"No! Please don't!" I cried. "I don't want the two of you fighting anymore. I'll just enjoy the time we have left in Forks in my own way."

Mom gulped. Shit, I had slipped and told her that I heard them fighting. That's what I get for having a heart to heart with my mother when I'm all emo. "Okay, if you're sure."

"I'm sure, Ma." She opened her arms, motioning for me to go to her for a hug. I went to her, and she held me for the longest time and during those moments, everything felt right with the world.

* * *

**FYI:** I used my parents wedding anniversary for Peter's and Liz's wedding day. Or maybe it was my brother's, I'm not 100% certain. I think my parents got married on August 10, 1974 and my brother got married on August 11, 2003. You might understand why I'd get the days mixed up.


	11. Living in the Moment

Thanks Birdee!

**A/N:** You know, I took such pride in my research for Chapter 9 in regards to Wal-Mart. There is a Wal-Mart in Port Angeles. I don't know what made me over look that. Or maybe I wanted them to go to Aberdeen and I forgot why. I dunno.

Happy New Year! I hope 2009 is even better than 2008 for everyone.

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own _Twilight_ or _Dawn_. I'm not Stephenie Meyer or VC Andrews. If I was, I'm sure I wouldn't be juggling two part time jobs. Well, actually, if I was VC Andrews, I'd be dead.

* * *

**Chapter 11: Living in the Moment**

_Dear Rose,_

_I've got to get more inventive with these letters because yours is starting much like Jasper's. If you're reading this, then it means my family has moved again. I didn't know if I'd get to say good-bye properly so this letter is meant to do it for me. _

_I want to thank you for your friendship. It really meant a lot to me that all of you accepted me without many questions or hesitation. You told me once that girls in school were jealous of you and that's why you didn't have many friends. You'd rather have a small, close knit group of friends than consider a bunch of two-faced girls who talked behind your back as so-called friends. At first, I thought you were overreacting. Before I really got to know you, I thought you might've been stuck up. How wrong I was. _

_Rose, you have a very warm and open heart. That's what those girls in school are jealous of. They know that you are better than all of them put together. You're also wrapped up in a much better package than all of them too. Yeah, I had to say that, I'm a guy, so sue me for the two pennies I have to my name! Don't tell Emmett!_

_Speaking of Emmett, I wish the two of you the best of luck. I can't believe the two of you danced around each other for so long. He's a great guy and he'll treat you like a Princess._

_Always remember to turn your bitch switch on when you have to._

_Love ya,_

_Edward_

I knew it was bound to happen sooner or later. The pounding on the front door was unmistakable. I waited and listened, hearing the voices from the living room. Loud, thundering footsteps made their way quickly to my door. I didn't wait for the sound of his knuckles to pound on my door.

"Come in, Emmett." The door to my bedroom flew open and just as quickly it was shut as Emmett walked in. Great, I thought, he has now seen my entire house and its deplorable conditions. Maybe the entire Bella mess would distract him and he wouldn't notice.

"What happened today?" He seemed startled, angry and annoyed at the same time. "I stopped by Bella's on the way home, and she was all upset. She was mumbling something about you and rejection. What the fuck, Edward?"

I sunk back into the mattress. "Shit."

Emmett eyes scanned my room. "Man, no bed?"

"You're looking at it," I said from my position on the floor. "It's nothing glamorous."

"And no dresser?"

I pointed to the big Rubbermaid container that I bought at Wal-Mart on Saturday. "I easily improvise." Shit, he wasn't as easily distracted as I thought he'd be.

Emmett shrugged his shoulders and shook his head. "Okay, back to Bella now. What the hell happened this weekend between the two of you?"

"I'll give you the short version and you can let me know if you want more details," I said. "Saturday at Wal-Mart went pretty well. Bella kissed me in a photo booth and I pulled away, but she seemed okay about that. On Sunday, I went over to Bella's to hang out and watch movies. Everything seemed okay but quickly went to hell. Bella physically assaulted me, I kissed her back, but then I pulled away, and she asked me if I liked her. I told her that I liked her 'just fine' (Emmett winced right then) and she was crying and she asked me to leave."

Emmett shook his head at me. "You're a fucking moron."

"Tell me something I don't know."

"You're a sarcastic fucking moron who's very lucky that I haven't kicked his ass so far."

"Yeah, I'm a lucky, sarcastic, fucking moron who made the girl he likes cry," I said. "Whoo. Go me."

Emmett took a step toward me. "It's not too late for that ass kicking."

"I deserve it," I said with a shrug of my shoulders. "You're just looking out for Bella."

I changed positions and sat with my back against the wall. Emmett finished making his way across the room and sat at the end of the mattress. Hell, he practically took up the entire thing. "Bella is like a sister to me. You're like a brother to me. Oh, shit, my brother made my sister cry because they _kissed_. This is worse than a fucking soap opera. I can tell this is going to give me a headache, but gimme the long version, please."

I explained everything to Emmett. From the when Bella picked me up on Saturday to when I left Bella's house on Sunday. Emmett was rubbing his temples when I was through.

"Christ," he muttered. "I reiterate that you are a fucking moron."

"I-" Emmett cut me off.

"Shut up and let me think." He lay back across the mattress with both hands over his face. I thought I heard him mumbling something about "pain in the ass teenagers." Like he should talk! Hell, did he forget he was a teenager himself? Did he forget how much he bugged me about Rose? I wanted to ask Emmett about Rose and how'd it go this weekend with her. Emmett was still in deep concentration, so I decided against it at the moment.

He suddenly sat up and glanced at me. "Do you honestly really like Bella and would like to be with her more than just a friend?"

"Yes."

"Then live in the moment," Emmett said. "Don't think about what's going to happen in your immediate future. Don't think about moving. To quote Nike, 'Just Do It,' Edward. Live in the moment, man, that's all I can say."

"I'm scared to."

"Stop being a damn pussy and go after the girl."

"But-"

"So you may not live forever happily ever after with Bella because your family moves so much," he said. "Life isn't a damn fairy tale. Would you rather let Bella think that you weren't attracted to her? That you didn't like her? That something was wrong with her? She blames herself for this mess, I know she does. That's how Bella is. Tell Bella _why_ you pushed her away. If she still wants to be with you, for whatever amount of time you have left here, then go for it. I repeat my earlier theory, live in the moment."

"You're way smarter than you look."

He glanced at me with a raised eyebrow. "I get that a lot. Do I look like a fucking retard or something? And I hereby reserve the right to serve you with an ass kicking at a later date."

"I will certainly remember that, bro." Emmett startled me when he raised his fist in the air toward me, but I realized it wasn't to punch me. I took my fist and lightly banged it against his. "Thanks, Emmett."

"Brothers help each other out."

"I've been an only child until now, so I'll have to forgive me if I need to be reminded now and then."

Emmett laughed loudly and got up. "I'll beat it into you sooner or later. Alice is waiting for me, so I should go."

I jumped up from the floor myself. "You left Midg outside in the Jeep?"

"My baby has her cover on and you know damn well her heat works fantastically."

I followed Emmett out into the hallway. "If the Jeep is your baby, what's Rose?"

Emmett stopped in mid-stride and turned around. "Um, my babe?"

"Do I want to know what happened between you two this weekend?" I asked. To be truthful, I was beyond curious. I didn't need to know in depth details, but I wanted to know if things were progressing well with Emmett and Rose.

"A lot of talking and hand holding," Emmett stated with a grin. "You weren't the only one making out this weekend either." He turned and continued into the kitchen. Mom was in the kitchen, assembling a sandwich for Dad's lunch for tomorrow. "'Night Mrs. Masen, sorry for the late visit."

"Don't worry about it, Emmett," Mom said with a smile. "Have a good night now."

Grabbing my jacket, I quickly slung it on and followed Emmett out to the Jeep. Alice was sitting in the passenger side with the radio blaring. Once she saw me approaching she turned the music down, flung open the flap of the Jeep, and jumped down onto the crumbling, cracked sidewalk.

"Hey, Edward!" Alice grabbed me into a hug. "Are you going to go ahead and live in the moment?"

"I wish you two would stop talking about me when I'm not around," I said.

Emmett stared at Alice. "You short psychic freak," he turned to me. "I didn't know what I was going to tell you about Bella until I said it in your room."

"Wait, psychic?" This is the first time I had head of Alice being referred to as a psychic.

"I wouldn't personally use the word psychic," Alice said. "I get glimpses, hunches, a sense of déjà vu, and other times I just have a really good or bad feeling about something. I have excellent intuitions about things. Emmett throws around the word psychic like it's normal."

"Alice is anything but normal," Emmett said with a sly smile.

"You're lucky I'm not a witch. I'd curse you with an insanely small dick."

I held up my hand at them. "Do not turn this into a conversation about Emmett's dick. I will be scarred for life."

"Edward, everything will be okay with you and Bella," Alice said tapping the side of her head for effect. "I know it."

"If you say so, Midg."

Alice took a step forward and hugged me. "I do, and so it will be."

I wished Alice could tell me what to do and what to say to Bella to make everything better. Screwing things up with Bella seemed to be my main talent as of late. Emmett and Alice drove off, and I made my way back into the house. Hanging up my jacket next to the door, I kicked off my shoes and turned to my father on the couch.

"I'm sorry about earlier," I apologized. Dad patted to the spot on the couch next to him and muted the television.

I sat down next to my father. "So your mother would only tell me that you're having girl troubles."

"You could say that."

"I don't know much about women-"

Mom snorted from the kitchen. "You can say that again."

Dad ignored her. "Girls suck sometimes and I don't mean in the good way."

"Peter!" Mom yelled from the kitchen. "Stop attempting to corrupt my son!"

He put an arm around my shoulders and pulled me closer to him. "They're totally worth it in the end though," he whispered and unmuted the television. I caught the look in his eyes as he glanced at Mom in the kitchen. "Oh, there's a mini _M*A*S*H*_ marathon on. Do you still like _M*A*S*H*_, son?"

I did so I sat there with my father watching Hawkeye try to save his friend who ended up dying. Damn show never ceased to amaze me with its mixture of humor, drama, and commentary on war. I was probably the only person my age that liked an Alan Alda. Always the odd one that never quite fit in anywhere, that was me.

The next day my stomach was nervous and did flip flops anytime I thought I saw Bella. I couldn't blame her if she slapped me across the face the first time she saw me. Hell, I wanted to slap myself for my behavior. I was heading to lunch and when I rounded a corner, I saw Jasper talking to a dark blonde who I didn't recognize right away. Jasper saw me, and I could see that he was trying to get me to rescue him. That's when it hit me—the dark blonde must be Staysa Forbes. I didn't recognize her because of her ever changing hair color. Last week she was a pretty brunette.

I walked up to them and put my arm around Staysa, startling the hell out of her. I wasn't sure if we had ever talked before. "Hey Staysa, that's a nice hair color this week. You should totally do a rainbow of shades sometime. I think you'd totally rock it." She looked up at me, and, if I was reading her expression correctly, she was thinking, "Who the hell is this crazy fucker?"

"Um, thanks, Edward." I was surprised to learn that she did indeed know my name. Since Staysa's head was turned in my direction, Jasper took the opportunity to disappear from her view and darted into the safety of the cafeteria. I didn't realize Jasper could move so fast.

"See ya later, Staysa." I turned around and also headed into the cafeteria, trying to keep a straight face.

I met up with Jasper at our table and nearly threw up on my shoes when I saw Bella there to. I smiled at her, but the smile she returned wasn't her usual one. It was the smile she gave to everyone. I was feeling very selfish and I wanted _my_ smile.

"Thanks for saving me from Staysa."

"You're welcome, whore." I saw Bella cover her mouth and try not to laugh. "What's going on with Staysa now?"

"I didn't know that it was possible, but she's almost as big of a klutz as Bella is."

"Shut it, whore," Bella said.

"No, I'm being serious," Jasper said. "In gym she nearly collided with head on with someone else, but I caught her and probably saved her from a concussion. She was _thanking_ me again."

"She seems like a sweet, but weird girl," I said.

"I think she's stalking me," Jasper commented. Bella shook her head at Jasper's declaration. "I'm serious! Staysa is in almost all of my classes this year. And it wasn't like that in the beginning of the year either."

I saw Alice enter the cafeteria from behind Jasper. "Incoming girlfriend, twelve o'clock."

Jasper turned in Alice's direction and waved. He got up from his seat so he could go meet her. "And she sniffs me! Swear to God! Do _not_ tell any of this to Alice!"

Bella and I were both laughing as Jasper walked away from us. "Hey, Bella."

"Hey, Edward."

"Are you okay?" I asked cautiously, tongue tied as to what else was safe to say to her.

"Hunky dory," she replied with a slight nod of her head.

Aw, shit. Even I knew what that really meant. She might as well have just said, "You're an asshole who I don't wish to speak to right now." Bella wasn't even looking in my direction. Instead, her gaze was off to the side and something on the floor must have been riveting because it was capturing her attention.

"Bella?"

"I have to get something from my locker," she said, getting up from her seat in a rush. Bella headed in the opposite direction of where she should have been going. If she was going to her locker, Bella should've headed toward Alice and Jasper, who I knew had been purposely loitering around a garbage can for my benefit.

I leaned over the table and banged my head on it. "Idiot, idiot, idiot," I muttered to myself.

"Yes, you are," Alice said. I looked up, surprised to see her and Jasper sitting across from me. "Go after her."

I rested my chin on my arms against the table. "Do you see any sense in that? I sure as hell don't."

"Go. Now." There was a sense of urgency in her voice.

"Never bet against Alice," Jasper interjected.

Without another word, I got up and started off in the same direction Bella had gone off in. I was about to wonder how I was going to find her when I stopped in my tracks. Bella was down the hallway in the same spot Jasper was earlier near my locker but her back was to me. Quietly, I made my way closer to them. That vile Mike Newton was talking to her, and I was close enough to hear him. "I thought maybe you could accompany me to the Snow Ball Dance, Bella," Mike asked.

"The Snow Ball Dance is ladies choice, Mike," Bella stated with annoyance in her voice.

I walked up to Bella and put my arm around her shoulders. "That's right Mike, and that's why I'm going with Bella."

A hint of the smile that Bella showed only to me was displayed on her lips. "Right, Mike. I already asked Edward."

"Oh, I didn't know," Mike said. "I'm sorry." He walked off down the hallway and into the cafeteria. If he had a tail, it would have been between his legs.

Bella's smile rapidly faded as she twisted from my arms and faced me. One of her fists landed against my chest with a thud. "You asshole! How could you do that? Now, if I show up to the dance alone he's going to know that we lied to him."

"I'm sorry," I said, realizing the repercussions of my actions. "I'll go to the dance if you want. Or help you make up an excuse. I'll do whatever you want."

"You irritate me to no end, do you know that?" she asked with her eyes full of tears. "I already picked you, but you pushed me away! You are confusing the _hell_ out of me. Do you like me or not? Christ, Edward, stop sending me mixed signals!"

I took a step towards her, but she backed away from me. Taking another step, she was almost against the wall. I wrapped my arms around her and embraced her. Bella's arms were up against my chest, trying to push me away. "Bella, I'm scared. I've never felt like this about anyone else before," I whispered into her ear, and her body stilled against me. "I care about you and I want to be with you, but I'm scared of us both getting hurt. You know that my family doesn't stay in one place for long."

I could feel Bella trying to move, but she wasn't fighting me. Loosening my grip on her, Bella slowly moved her arms from my chest to around my back. I squeezed her tighter to me and hoped no hall monitors suddenly showed up. We'd both be stuck with Spartan Service if they saw us in our current position. "Look, I don't even understand why you'd want to be with me. I don't have a dime to my name, and neither does my family. And trust me, I'm nothing special, I can't give you anything except my heart. Emmett said that I should stop thinking and just live in the moment. If you'll let me, I've decided to take his advice. Do you want to be with me even if it's for a short amount of time?"

She slowly slid her arms down around my waist. "You are such a fucking moron."

"I've been hearing that a lot lately," I said and smiled. We stood there in the hallway for a minute, holding one another.

"You are special." I started to protest but Bella lightly dug her nails into my back. I took her action as a sign to shut up. "You're special to me at least. You make me laugh. You make me happy. I don't care about your lack of money; I'm not looking for someone to pay my way in the world. Not all girls go after the bad boys. I think the good guys, like you, Emmett and Jasper, should get the girl, too."

I gulped and tried to think of something to say, but words were currently failing me.

"Edward." Bella's arms snaked around back to my chest. Her left hand traveled upward, wrapping itself around to the back of my neck and into my hair while her right cupped my cheek. She stood on her tip toes and I felt the pressure of her hand on the back of my neck pressing me down toward her and my lips met hers. "I'll take it."

"Wait, what?"

"I want your heart," she said, looking up at me with my smile. I brought my forehead down to hers. "Even if it's for a short amount of time."

"Keep it," I told her. "It's yours, and I don't want it back."

I pressed my lips to the corner of her mouth and heard someone clear their throat nearby. Glancing up, I saw my father in the doorway of his office. "Brandmire is headed this way, kids."

"Thanks, Dad," I motioned to the girl in my arms. "This is Belspar."

"Nice to meet you, Bella," he said. "Get back to the cafeteria now before Brandmire catches you and gives you Spartan Service."

He waved us off, and Bella and I broke free of each other. Taking her hand, I let her back to the cafeteria. "Belspar?" she asked.

"According to my father, Belspar, Alec and Rosiland are the cute girls I'm friends with." We were laughing as we entered the cafeteria, and Alice's words echoed in my head. _"Edward, everything will be okay with you and Bella. I know it."_ Not only was Alice correct, but so was Emmett. Short psychic freak. I still loved her though.

We walked back into the cafeteria holding hands, and I made everyone change our seating arrangements so I could sit next to Bella. Everyone knew something had changed between Bella and me even though we didn't say anything about it. I was totally new to all this stuff. Did you make a general announcement to your friends to let them know you were dating someone? Was that what Bella and I were doing?

The rest of the day went much better than the start of it. I had to work at the Thriftway for a few hours that afternoon. Emmett dropped me off and picked me up afterwards. We all watched a movie in Emmett's room—all of us paired off in our coupledom.

It was freakin' sweet. And for the first time in my life, I didn't mean that sarcastically. It also felt good to sit there with Bella in my arms, holding her hand, and not feel guilty about the dirty thoughts that were floating around my head. My thoughts especially turned dirty when she shifted and leaned against me. I glimpsed a peek down her shirt, and my eyes were fixed on the swell of her breasts.

Later that night when Emmett dropped Bella off, I walked her to the door of the house. I saw Charlie peeping through the blinds at one point, checking on us. Laughing, I told Bella and she threw her arms around me while Charlie's eyes were trained on us. She ran her hands through my hair—how I loved that feeling—and reached up for me. I bent down to meet her lips and we heard Charlie's heavy foot steps head up the stairs.

"He's going to get his shot gun," I told her.

"If he's going to shoot you, he has to get through me first," Bella said with a wink.

After two more very short minutes, Emmett made a big show by honking the horn and screaming, "Come on, you two love birds! Kiss and say good-bye already!" It was times like those where I wished I was bigger than Emmett.

When I got home, I decided to work more on my letters to the gang.

_Dear Midg,_

_Emmett is right about you. You are a short, psychic freak. However, I mean that in the best possible way. I think the psychic thing is totally cool. You should play the stock market. Seriously, think about it, you could make a ton of money that way. _

_I'm going to miss you so much. Whenever you're around, you always uplift my spirits. You are a kind, warm, and loving person. There should be more people like you in the world. I'll probably keep that green shirt you bought for me, even when it's no more than a mere rag. It will be a reminder of your generosity and love. Don't ever change those things about yourself._

_I can only wish you the best of luck with your man-whore, Jasper. Don't push him around too much. I know you mean everything to him. You don't have to be a psychic to see that one._

_Thank you for embracing me and for accepting me into your family, no questions asked. Thank you for the wonderful memories. You have given me many things, but I will cherish the memories of being with you the most._

_Love you,_

_Eddie_

When I finished my letter to Alice, I was trying to think of something else to say. It was far too short in my opinion. Then again, isn't that the best way sometimes? I said what I wanted to say, but the lack of words had bothered me.

I was lying there, staring at a blank page in my notebook, pen in hand.

Fifteen minutes passed.

A half an hour ticked by.

Forty-five minutes whizzed by.

An hour later, the page in front of me was still blank.

I had two more letters to write. I was totally drawing a blank for my letters to Emmett and Bella. Why was this so hard now? Tonight, Emmett had told me that I was like a brother to him. Bella was… my girlfriend? I continued to lie there, struggling to think of what to write to the man that was practically my brother and to the girl who had captured my heart.

* * *

**A/N:** I'm a comment whore, so you know the drill. If you liked it, let me know.

This will be the last chapter of _Legacy_ for at least a week, maybe more. I have other stories I'm writing and I want to work on them. If you missed it, I wrote a one-shot called _Drunk Redneck Wedding_. I started two new fics which are called _The Curious Case of Edward Cullen _and _Twilight: A Musical Parody_. _Curious_ is not like the book/movie. There is an aging thing and the title. It's not the same aging thing as in the book/movie, so give it a shot, mmm? How do I explain _T:AMP_? Imagine the cast of Twilight performing (only because they're obligated to do so) in a low budget crappy version of the movie on Broadway. One of the chapters is a Playbill for the show. I've butchered _Good Morning, Baltimore_ from Hairspray to fit the show and wrote other original but crappy lyrics. I also need to write the final chapter of _Serendipitous_, which I totally abandoned once I started _Legacy_. I have the following four days off from work though, so I hope to get a lot of writing done in that time.


	12. My Life as I Knew it Was Over

**Me:** UGH! I need to write something other than _Legacy_!  
**My Brain:** Shut it fat cheeks, write chapter 12 of _Legacy_! You've had the entire damn story sitting around up here since you thought of it. I need some new space, it's cleaning time. Write, bitch!  
**Me:** But I need to write for _Serendipitous_, _Curious_ and _T:AMP_!  
**My Brain:** Tough shit! You're writing chapter 12 of Legacy first. After that, I'll see about letting you write for some of your other lame ass fan fics.  
**Me:** You're not being fair!  
**My Brain:** Tough shit, start typing!

Okay, so I lied. I sat down and attempted to write for something other than _Legacy_. Yeah, it didn't work. I even tried to open up PhotoShop and do some art work. I accomplished making an icon with Jasper from the Twilight movie with the words, "I'm not constipated, I'm just not that animated" from _T:AMP_.

For those of you that freaked out about a hiatus, _Legacy_ was never meant to go on hiatus. I usually try to post once a week. I hadn't planned on letting it go for more than two weeks before posting again. So, if you see that I don't post another update for over a week, don't totally freak out on me. Either I'm having a brain fart or I'm working on other stuff. I swear, I don't need to start any new fan fics until I get one of the current ones finished.

The first set of lyrics are from a Queen song called _Soul Brother_. The second set of lyrics is from a song called _You've Really Got a Hold On Me_ by The Miracles. I edited both sets of lyrics just slightly in order for them to better fit my needs. If you've never heard of either song, you'd probably never know.

**DISCLAIMER:** I am not Stephenie Meyer, VC Andrews, Smokey Robinson or any member of the rock group Queen. I do not own _Twilight_, _Dawn_ or the songs _You've Really Got a Hold On Me_ or _Soul Brother_.

* * *

**Chapter 12: ...My Life as I Knew it Was Over**

You could say that I wasn't _exactly_ living in the moment. I was trying to take Emmett's advice to heart as much as I could. I enjoyed my time with Bella and the rest of the gang. While I was with them, I laughed and smiled. Bella and I held hands and stole kisses whenever possible. The thought of leaving Forks was still a dark cloud over me. At any moment, I thought the cloud would get as dark as it could get and it'd storm, sending us away from Forks, Bella, and my friends.

It still bothered me that I couldn't think of how to say good-bye to Emmett and Bella. The thought that I could possibly leave at any moment without writing a letter to either of them nagged me every damn day.

Before I knew it, Thanksgiving was two days away. I was working more hours at the Thriftway since they were busy because of the holiday. My extra work hours were taking away from my Bella-time, but she said she understood. At least that's what she said. You can never be sure with girls. They say one thing, and then act another completely different way. Confusing creatures! On Tuesday night when Mom and I got home, we noticed something sitting on the porch. Upon closer inspection, it was a basket full of food wrapped in clear cellophane. There was a small note taped on the outside that said "Happy Thanksgiving."

I remembered that Emmett mentioned giving out baskets for Thanksgiving and Christmas. The basket had to be Emmett's doing. However, I wasn't telling my parents about my suspicions. I picked it up and took it inside with us.

"What's that?" Dad asked from the kitchen, making his lunch for tomorrow.

"It seems to be a Thanksgiving basket," I said, placing it on the counter. "You must have been in a coma on the couch and didn't hear when it was dropped off."

"Now, does that sound like me? Who would have left a basket of food for us?" Dad didn't like to be considered a charity case any more than I did.

"Yes, and um, I don't know," I lied and tore through the cellophane. Taking the items out of the basket, I went through it and arranged the items on the counter for Mom. "There's a bunch of fruit in here, apples, bananas, and oranges and there's canned goods. Corn, green beans, yams, stuffing mix, a box of mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie, and there's a pie crust." Once I reached the bottom of the basket, a piece of paper caught my eye. "Hey, Ma, it's a coupon for a turkey at the Thriftway!"

"Wow, this was very nice," Mom said. "I was going to pick up everything for us tomorrow. Tell Emmett that he shouldn't have, but we said thank you. Okay?"

"We don't know that it's from the Cullens," I stated truthfully.

"Who else would it be from?" Dad asked.

I tried to think of someone else that might know about our situation and would like to help. "Someone at the school?"

"Doubtful," Dad said matter-of-factly. "Didn't you tell me once that his family gives away baskets for the holidays?"

"Yes."

"I'm betting it's from them." Mom put the fruit back in the basket and left it on the counter. I helped her arrange the rest of it in the pantry.

"Edward, I've been meaning to ask you something," Mom started hesitantly. "I know the Thriftway doesn't pay that well. Where have all your new clothes come from?"

"I've been wondering the same thing myself," Dad added. "If you've robbed a bank, why haven't you shared the wealth with us?"

"I haven't robbed a bank or stolen money or done anything illegal. I was allowed to raid Jasper's closet."

"Which one is Jasper?" Dad asked. He had seen the gang at school but couldn't remember which person was which.

"Jasper is the guy in the group that's not me or Emmett."

"The blonde one that's with the short hyper girl?"

"Yes and the short hyper girl would be Alice, Jasper's girlfriend and Emmett's sister." I swear, my father couldn't remember shit. "She wanted to buy me clothes, but I said no. Instead, she had me raid Jasper's closet and then she bought him new stuff."

"And Jasper was okay with this?" Mom asked.

"Let's just say there were some sexual favors exchanged between the two." Mom's eyebrows were raised. "That's all I know, I didn't ask for specifics and that's why he was okay with the situation."

Dad shook his head. "Ah, the youth of today."

A week ago I had found a really good deal on a cordless phone with two bases. Mom told me that since I bought it, I could have one of the bases in my room. I was tired from work, but I called Bella to talk for a few minutes because I promised her I would. She told me that she believed Jasper's theory on Staysa Forbes now. Bella caught Staysa sniffing Jasper when we were leaving history that afternoon but didn't have the time to tell me earlier.

"Is she a bloodhound or something?" I asked.

"I don't know, but I tried not to laugh right then and there." I could picture her seeing Staysa sniff Jasper and trying not to break out giggling. "Maybe she's memorizing his scent."

"Okay, that proves my theory that she's a bloodhound."

"Or, maybe she just likes his cologne a lot."

"Staysa should just ask Jasper what cologne he wears then!" I said. "She's sniffing him like a dog! That's just weird."

"I'm not totally convinced she's just a bloodhound," Bella paused. "I hope she's not a stalker!"

"Maybe we should keep an article of his clothing in a plastic bag in case he goes missing," I said. "So a police dog can track him."

We talked a bit more about our history project that was due the week after Thanksgiving that we weren't looking forward to. Charlie knocked on Bella's door and told her to get off the phone and go to bed. Once we said goodnight, I decided to once again try to write Emmett's letter.

_Dear Emmett,_

_If you're reading this letter then it means my family had to leave Forks. I wasn't sure that I'd be able to say a proper good-bye to everyone. I decided that I'd write letters to all of you and mail them to your house for everyone. Please make sure everyone gets their letter so they can read them._

_Thank you for accepting me into your small circle of friends. I was honored beyond belief when you referred to me as a friend after such a short amount of time. Thank you for accepting me as I am and not judging me. You wanted to help me, but you never made jokes about my social status. You saw my room and you questioned it, but you never made any rude comments like some people would have. You just shrugged your shoulders and waved it off like everyone uses a huge ass Rubbermaid container as a dresser._

_Be good to Rose and I know she'll be good to you. She's a great gal and she's been crushin' on you for a long time. I can't believe you thought she was interested in me. Then again, you failed kindergarten so you can be slow at times. HA HA HA I had to take one last kindergarten-related stab at you, even if it's in a letter. Sometimes, I just can't help myself._

_Thank you for the good times in English, Photography, and lunch. Thank you for accepting me into your home. Thank you for all the rides to and from work, school, and everywhere else we went. Thank you for thinking I was cool enough to hang with you and your friends. Both you and Alice have such warm and generous hearts. Don't ever let anyone take advantage of you because of your generosity. Don't ever change who you are for anyone. _

_Thank you for your advice and your camaraderie. Thank you for being you. _

_Thank you for being the brother I never had,_

_Love you and I will never forget you,_

_Edward_

If that wasn't an example of pouring your heart out, I didn't know what the hell was. I folded Emmett's letter and put it into the manila envelope with the others. Rolling over, I put the envelope and pen on the floor. I switched on the radio on my alarm clock only to hear a bunch of fuzz. Either the radio stations around Forks were horrible or the radio part of the clock wasn't working any longer. Playing with the dial, I started to hear Freddy Mercury's voice and tried to tune the station in better. I listened to the lyrics of a song by Queen which I had never heard before. Reaching for the envelope, I grabbed Emmett's letter and opened it up. I scribbled some words from the song down on the bottom of it before I could forget them.

_He's my best friend_

_He's my champion_

_And he will rock you_

'_Cause he's the savior of the universe_

_He can love_

_He's my brother_

_When you're under pressure_

_He won't let you down_

_My brother won't let you down_

_He's my brother_

I folded his letter back up and on the outside of it wrote, "Open first."

The next morning in English, I saw Emmett and asked him about the basket. "Did your family leave a basket at my house for Thanksgiving?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," he said nonchalantly.

"Yeah, uh huh," I said. "My parents told me to tell y'all thanks."

"Tell Ma and Pa Masen I hope they have a Happy Thanksgiving."

"Doofus."

"Hey, fucking moron, are you coming over Friday night for Thanksgiving?" Emmett asked.

"I think you need to take a look at a calendar," I told him. "Thanksgiving is always on a Thursday."

"Not at the Cullen house," Rose informed me. "Carlisle always works on Thanksgiving."

"What she said," Emmett smiled at Rose. I didn't miss the fact that he was holding her hand on his desk. "We eat around three o'clock but come earlier than that. Mom likes to do other shit before hand."

"I don't want to intrude on your family time."

"Rose, Jasper, and Bella are always there, so what's one more?" Emmett said simply. "Plus, Mom told me to invite you. The only other family members that will be joining us will be my uncle Tony, his wife Jan, and my cousins Laura and Emily. They're cool chicks, for cousins anyway. So, it won't be all that different from any other time you're there."

Three days later, Bella picked me up on her way to Emmett's, and I properly introduced her to my parents.

"So, this is the girl who's got my son's panties all in a twist," Dad said.

Not missing a beat, Bella smiled and joked, "Edward, you never told me that you're a cross dresser!"

"Let's get out of here before he starts to show you baby pictures of me naked." I attempted to pull Bella out of the front door.

"Oooh, I wanna see those!" she said. "I bet you were so cute! Was your hair an untamable mess back then too? You probably had a cute little butt."

"Bella," I growled. "There are some things that you don't need to see."

"What's your locker number?" Dad asked Bella.

"Two-sixty-four," she said with a mischievous grin.

I was practically dragging Bella to her pick up when I heard Dad yell from the porch. "I'll make copies!"

"Love, please don't encourage the man!" I held Bella's door open for her and then went over to the passenger side to get in.

"Edward, have I told you that I like it when you call me 'love'?"

"I've called you 'love'?"

Bella glanced at me oddly. "You just did a minute ago. You're telling me you don't even know you're doing it?"

"Stupid self-conscious," I chided myself. "When was the first time you caught me?"

Bella started her truck, and it blared noisily to life. "When we were sleigh riding and we were on the sled on the bottom of the hill."

"At least you don't mind," I said. "I wonder what else I'm doing that I don't know about."

"If you should suddenly start cross dressing, I hope like hell you're not doing it on purpose."

"If I should ever cross dress, love, I hope it's only for Halloween and Emmett convinced me to dress in drag." I laughed at the image of Emmett, Jasper and me dressing up as women for Halloween. I shook my head. We wouldn't make attractive women at all. Leaning over, I placed a quick kiss on Bella's neck, right below her ear, as she eased the truck into drive. "And that time, I know I said it," I whispered the words into her ear.

Bella swatted me away and drove to the Cullens. When we were walking to the door, I suddenly thought to question my appearance. "Bella, am I dressed appropriately for today?"

"You look great, Edward."

"I expect you to say that," I said. "But compared to everyone else, will I fit in?" I was wearing a dark blue v-neck sweater with a white t-shirt underneath and had paired it with a pair of black jeans. I was wearing my normal sneakers because, frankly, I didn't have anything else. Bella was wearing a black skirt that ended at her knees with a navy blue button up top.

Bella stopped and placed both palms of her hands on either side of my face. "You look great." Then she proceeded to place her lips against mine.

"You two gonna stay outside makin' out all afternoon or are you gonna come inside?" Emmett bellowed from the front door.

"Actually, I was going to drag Bella back into her truck and we were gonna make out in there all afternoon."

"So be it." Emmett shook his head. "All the more food for me!" He then turned around, went inside the house, and closed the door behind him.

I grabbed Bella's hand and squeezed it. "Come on, he'll eat all the turkey."

I was relieved to see that I wasn't too underdressed. Most of the other men were also wearing sweaters or button up shirts. Carlisle and his brother Tony were wearing slacks, but Emmett and Jasper were also wearing a nice pair of jeans. Emmett introduced me to Tony, Jan, Laura, and Emily. They all seemed nice and down to earth like the rest of the Cullen family. Laura looked about Emmett's age, and I placed Emily to be about fifteen. They both seemed to be enamored with Jasper.

"Does Jasper have a fan club I don't know about?" I whispered to Bella. "What's with all the stalkers?"

"Are you jealous?"

I placed my arm around Bella's waist and drew her closer to me. "I've got you, what do I have to be jealous about?"

I soon found out that Esme liked for everyone to get to their house early so they could play games. Emmett pulled out Pictionary and everyone was placed into teams. I was teamed up with Emmett, Carlisle, and Bella. Jasper, Alice, Rose, and Esme were together while Tony was, ahem, stuck with his wife and daughters. Carlisle actually used the word stuck, not me.

I had never played the game, but I quickly understood the rules. Too bad I wasn't much of an artist. Have you ever tried to draw a picture of the United States when your strong point is stick figures? It wasn't that easy. One of us had pulled a "play all" card, which is when all the teams have to draw at once. I nearly dropped my pencil and choked on nothing but air when I was attempting to draw the state of Florida. I had started on the east coast, went down and drew the Florida panhandle, and was starting back up into Texas. Carlisle glanced at my drawing and blurted out, "A penis? A deformed penis?"

Everyone was laughing so hard that none of us finished our drawing before the timer ran out. We had to pick another card and start that round over. Surprisingly, I found the game time to be fun.

Soon Carlisle was carving the turkey, and the girls were in the kitchen getting everything ready. When I went into the freezer to get more ice for my drink, I noticed the picture that Alice took of Emmett and me stuck on the refrigerator with a magnet. I smiled, and for some reason, the picture made me feel all warm and gooey and shit on the inside.

"Hey, Jazz, if it's all right with you, I think I'm going to have to raid your closet again," I told him.

"Whatcha need this time?"

"I don't know actually." Emmett walked over and joined us. "What do you guys wear to the Snow Ball dance?"

"Not a tux, that's for damn sure," Emmett said with his mouth full of peanuts.

"Thank God," I said.

"You're welcome," Emmett replied.

"As if, doofus."

"Listen here, effin' moron, you can't take my God status away now."

Jasper shook his head at us. "Shut it, both of you. For your information, Edward, guys usually wear a nice button up shirt and tie with a blazer and a pair of pants but not jeans. The girls are the ones that get more dressed up. It's almost as bad as the prom. Come over one day next week after school and we'll hook you up."

While we were eating I took notice of the table cloth. It was covered in a thin plastic, but the linen table cloth underneath it had writing all over it. I was attempting to read it without anyone noticing what I was doing.

"Every year, we sign it with what we're thankful for," Bella whispered to me. "It's Esme's tradition."

Between dinner and dessert, Esme removed the plastic from the table and placed permanent markers on the table for everyone to use. Unsure of what to write, I scanned the tablecloth for what others have written in the past years.

'Thankful that Mom's cancer scare was false. I love you.' – Emmett '06

'I'm thankful to be friends with such a great family.' – Bella '07

'Thankful to be invited once again to the Cullen household.' – Jasper '05

'Thanks for being a second family to my daughter.' – Charlie '04

'I'm thankful that Jasper finally asked me out.' – Alice '05

I did some math quickly in my head. Alice's birthday was in September, and she was currently sixteen. I elbowed Bella to get her attention. "Alice has been dating Jasper since she was thirteen?"

"Good thing he's only a year older, huh?"

"Wow, no wonder they're the way they are."

Still thinking of what to write myself, I waited for Bella to finish her entry. Handing me the marker, she got up from the table. "Your turn," she told me. Bella headed into the living room to join the others.

'I'm thankful to be able to spend whatever time I can with Edward.' – Bella '08

I smiled at her printed words. She should be thankful for her health or something important, not me. In a few months, I was sure I wouldn't be in Forks, and she'd soon forget all about me.

'I'm thankful for all my new friends this year. Thank you for accepting me. Thanks, Bella.' – Edward '08

The following Tuesday I headed over to Jasper's with him after school. Alice came with us, and we picked out an outfit that I could wear to the Snow Ball. I went with a classic look—black slacks, blazer and tie with a crème colored shirt. That weekend, we all headed to Port Angeles. Alice helped me—literally and monetarily—buy a nice pair of black dress shoes, and the girls bought their dresses. Emmett, Jasper, and I walked around while the girls were dress shopping. We were not allowed to see their dresses until the dance.

The Snow Ball Dance took place two weeks before Christmas on a Friday night. I had dinner with my parents at home. Before I got dressed, I lay down and brought out my notebook and pen. I made another attempt to write Bella's good-bye letter.

_Dear Bella,_

_I'm sorry that I confused you so much. I honestly didn't mean to. I thought it'd be better if I didn't get close to you. Now, I only regret the time I missed out on with you. I could have spent so much more time with you instead of pushing you away. I hope I get the chance to say good-bye properly to you in person. In case that doesn't happen, this letter is supposed to cover so many things that I can't even convey into words. I can't tell you how much I'm going to miss you. I find that I'm always thinking about you. It was something I fought so hard not to do. Something about you had a powerful hold on me._

_I haven't let myself open up to anyone in a long time. With my family constantly moving, it seemed stupid to get close to anyone. By the time I'd make friends, we'd be off to our next town. Eventually, I just stopped talking to anyone at school. I'd ignore the other students when they'd say hello to me. Soon enough, they'd understand and stop greeting me. _

_Why this stupid, rinky dink town called Forks had to be different, I'll never know. As I write this, I'm just trying to savor each and every moment that I have with you. I honestly can't say that I love you like a boyfriend is supposed to love a girlfriend. I'm kind of confused about everything between us because this is a new experience for me. I'm not saying that I don't love you at all—I love each of you in a different way. _

_Even in a letter I'm digging myself a deeper hole. You're probably reading this and thinking, "Thank God that asshole is gone!" Wait, my nickname is "fucking moron" after all._

_I'll always remember our trip to Wal-Mart and our first kiss in the photo booth. Thank you for making copies of the pictures for me. I will always cherish them. They will be a reminder for me not to let myself get close to someone again. I know that after I leave Forks it'll be too hard to let myself make friends again. There isn't another Bella for me, as much as there isn't another Emmett, Alice, Jasper, or Rose. You're all it for me. _

_Thank you for being patient and understanding. Thank you for having a father that forgets to wear his holster so he can't shoot me with his pistol when he catches me in his daughter's bed (even though we weren't doing anything—at the time that he caught us). Thank you for being persistent and loving, funny and caring, sexy and beautiful. Thank you for letting me be with you even when I had no right to. _

_I will never, ever forget you… my time with you… or how important you became to me._

_I hope you find someone else to share your life with, but please, for all that is good and holy, don't pick Mike Newton. I can probably deal with the thought of you seeing anyone else but him. He'll never be good enough for you. _

_Bella, please try not to be mad at me… I want you to be happy, even if it's without me. When you said you'd take my heart I told you to keep it because I didn't want it back. It's true, I don't want my heart back. I want it to stay in Forks with you. _

_I will always remember you. I will always remember the smile that you seemed to give to only me._

_Love you, _

_Edward_

I was leaking. Shit, I was crying over Bella's damn letter. I wiped my eyes with the back of my hand and dabbed Bella's letter with my shirt. It was a good thing that I had waited to get dressed.

Mom had to get out a disposable camera and took a picture of me all dressed up lookin' all grown up and crap. I went ahead and posed with Mom for a picture too. When Emmett came to pick me up, he took a picture of me with both my parents. Of course, Mom wanted a picture of Emmett and me dressed up together. She then handed the camera over and told me to take plenty of pictures during the night.

"Make sure you get a picture of you and Bella together for me," she said. "I bet she'll look really pretty in her dress."

I tucked the camera away in the pocket of my newly acquired blazer. "I'll see you later. I'll try not to make too much noise when I come home."

"Don't come home drunk or anything stupid like that," Dad warned me sternly.

"Oh no, sir, there will be none of that," Emmett informed my parents. He seemed to be a kiss ass around my parents lately and I didn't understand it. It wasn't his usual behavior.

My parents got all weepy and shit and wanted hugs before I left. "Love you guys, don't have too much fun without me."

"Love you, too, Edward," Mom said as she let me go.

Emmett was borrowing Carlisle's gray Mercedes for the night. With us being dressed up, it'd be easier to get in and out of. When we got to the Cullen house, Jasper was waiting for us, leaning against Rose's car in the driveway. "You're going to get yourself dirty leanin' against Rose's car like that," Emmett teased him.

Jasper stuck his tongue out at Emmett. "Okay, Alice."

We waited in the living room for the girls to "get their beautiful skinny asses downstairs" as Emmett put it. It seemed to take forever. Just how much preening and primping could three girls need? When we heard giggling from the top of the staircase, we got up and waited for them at the landing of the stairs.

I'm going to have to spare you the innate, overly in-depth details and descriptions of the girls' dresses. See, I'm a man. I'm lucky that I get my colors straight. I don't know the correct fashion terms to properly describe a dress. Dress, gown, skirt, what the hell do I know about all of them?

Alice came down first in a deep, almost black, purple dress that was angled at the bottom so one end was shorter than the other. I thought the color fit her perfectly with her dark hair. When she twirled around in front of Jasper, I noticed her dress was backless. Rose descended the stairs next. I thought for sure she'd go with the routine "blonde in a red dress ensemble," but I was wrong. Instead, she picked an emerald green dress with a very low, ahem, I guess they'd call that "plunging" neckline. It looked very pretty on her, and it showed off her legs. I finally got to see Bella as she rounded the corner and made her way down the stairs.

What a vision! I could feel that I had the dopiest grin plastered on my face. Bella looked beautiful in a dark navy blue dress. It had that crinkle pattern shit, but don't get me wrong, it looked fantastic on her. The dress didn't have any sleeves, so I got to see her bare shoulders. The dressed stopped just above her knees, so it showed off her legs too.

"Wow, Bella, you look beautiful," I told her, taking her hand in mine.

"You look pretty spiffy yourself there, mister."

"Edward, you're beaming!" Rose said excitedly. "Haven't you ever seen a pretty girl in a dress before?"

"I have never seen three such beautiful and gorgeous women all dressed up at the same time, no!" I squeezed Bella's hand.

"Smooth brother, smooth," Emmett said laughing. Rose punched him in the arm. I couldn't say he didn't deserve it.

Alice had her digital camera and wanted to take pictures before we left. I handed her the disposable camera and told her to take each picture twice.

The dance was in the gym of the high school. The gym was decorated in the typical manner—streamers and balloons that are supposed to make you think you're somewhere other than a gymnasium. No matter how much decorating was done, the stench of sweat would still permeate the air. More than a few of our classmates needed to invest in odor eaters and deodorant. Whew!

"Edward, I hate to break this to you, but I'm not much of a dancer," Bella confessed. "I hope you're not disappointed."

I laughed. "Bella, honestly? I'm lucky I can sway to a slow song."

"I was so nervous you'd want to dance to every song like Emmett."

I searched the room and found that Emmett and Rose were already on the dance floor, boppin' along to… Linkin Park? It was funny as hell watching big, football player-lookin' Emmett try to dance.

"What the hell, as long as he's having fun!" I said. "However moronic he looks doing it."

"You know that I can barely walk a straight line without breaking my leg. Last year, Emmett pulled me onto the dance floor, and I ended up spraining my ankle by the time the night was through."

"Only slow dances for you, missy."

Bella looped her arm through mine and led us to the bleachers. "See, most guys would be upset about that."

Alice and Jasper had decided to wait for a better song to dance to. They had grabbed some punch and were waiting, sitting on the bleachers. Alice patted to a spot next to her. "I don't know how that doofus of a brother of mine can dance to this."

"I don't know how my sister can put up with your brother," Jasper told her. "I mean, look at him! He looks like an idiot out there on the dance floor."

"Emmett likes to live in the moment," Bella said quite innocently.

I glanced at Alice and found that she was looking back at me with a smile on her face. "Shall we live in the moment too, Midg?"

Alice handed her drink to Jasper and jumped up from her seat. Holding out her hand for me, she made her way down the bleachers and to the floor of the gymnasium. I led her over to where Emmett and Rose were thrashing about and we joined them.

I'm sure that we looked like a bunch of complete morons in the middle of having a seizure, but I didn't care. Alice and I stayed for one other song, more of a dance song this time, before we rejoined our dates.

Emmett and Rose danced to almost every song that the deejay played. Alice and Jasper danced quite a bit but sat out a lot of songs that they deemed "undanceable." Bella and I stuck to mostly slow songs because it was the safest for her. I did manage to get her up on the dance floor for a few faster numbers, but I always kept her closer to me than someone normally would.

It was nearing the end of the evening, and Bella had just sat down from dancing with Alice and Rose ("We're not lesbians but we're just slow dancing together! Now, get out of our little circle!").

"Would you do me the honor of dancing with me for the final time tonight?"

"I'd be honored to." She smiled that smile for me. Bella took my hand and I led her out onto the dance floor.

_I don't like you_

_But I love you_

_Seems that I'm always_

_Thinking of you_

_Oh, oh, oh_

Bella wrapped her arms around my neck and pulled herself close to me. I placed my arms around her waist and pulled her closer yet. I didn't want the evening to end. We started to sway to the slow rhythm of the music.

_I've treated you badly_

_I love you madly_

_You've really got a hold on me_

_You've really got a hold on me, baby_

"Bella, I haven't been completely honest with you," I said, my eyes partially closed. I leaned over and placed my forehead against hers. "I have this really bad feeling that we'll be leaving Forks soon."

_I don't want you_

_But I need you_

_Don't want to kiss you_

_But I need you_

_Oh, oh, oh_

"What? Already? It's too soon!" she cried. "We… we haven't had enough time!"

"Trust me, I know that, love."

"Can't you think of some way so your parents stay?"

_I've done you wrong now_

_My love is strong now_

_You've really got a hold on me_

_You've really got a hold on me, baby_

"I'm seventeen, if my parents leave, I have to follow," I told her.

"Why can't you stay at the Cullens? I'm sure they'd be okay with that. You can get emancipated."

"There's nothing in this stupid town for me…"

_I love you and all I want you to do_

_Is just hold me, hold me, hold me_

"…except you, and Emmett and Alice, Jasper and Rose. Do you know how much it'd hurt my mother if I asked to stay somewhere they weren't? It'd kill her."

"Do you even know where you'd be going?"

"I have no idea," I honestly told her. "It could be anywhere. I've written you all letters to send to say good-bye. I'll send them to Emmett's house from where ever we end up."

"You weren't even going to say good-bye to us?"

_I'm don't want to leave you_

_Want to stay here forever with you_

_I want to spend_

_More than just_

_Another day here_

"It's not that I don't want to say good-bye properly, I don't know if I'll be given the chance," I explained.

"Write to me," Bella pleaded. There were tears in her eyes. "I'll write you every day. My letters will be filled with the most boring, dumbest things, but I'll write to you every day."

"I'll smile and laugh over every letter," I promised her. "You'll need to tell me every time you almost break your leg. Every time Emmett acts like a doofus and how he and Rose are doing. Every time Alice and Jasper get caught makin' out somewhere on school property."

_Oh, oh, oh, I don't want to split now_

_I just can't quit now_

_You've really got a hold on me_

_You've really got a hold on me, baby_

"I'll tell you everything," she said barely above a whisper. "Will you really get my letters?"

"I honestly don't know."

_I love you and all I want you to do_

_Is just hold me, hold me, hold me_

"I don't want you to leave me, Edward."

"Bella, I don't want to leave you, love."

_You've really got a hold on me_

_You've really got a hold on me_

We stood on the dance floor, embraced in each other's arms well past the end of the song. When I broke from the spell we were in, I noticed that everyone was fast dancing around us. Taking Bella's hand, I led her back to the bleachers. "Bella, please don't be sad."

"I don't know how you expect me not to be sad after what you told me." She wrapped her arms around my arm that was closest to her and leaned against me.

"Let's just enjoy the time we've got," I said. The dark cloud of freakin' doom was high over my head right now. I wanted a big sweeping wind to come around and blow it out of the way.

"I wanted to fall in love with you," she said, barely above a whisper. The tears were back in her eyes, gently falling down her cheeks. I brushed them away with the pads of my thumb.

"You'll find someone else. Don't close off your heart because of me." That just sent her off into another crying jag. Emmett was right, I'm a fucking moron. I deserved my new nickname.

Thankfully, the dance ended a few minutes later, and Bella pulled herself together. Alice noted Bella's gloomy appearance, but Bella just played it off as being tired. Emmett dropped Bella off first, and, for some reason, he allowed us more time to say good-bye than he normally did. I didn't know if he was psychic too, but he knew something was up and that we needed time. I had to forcibly unwrap Bella's arms from me before I could leave.

"Please never forget that I care for you," I told her. "Never forget."

"I'll never think otherwise, I promise."

I made Bella go into her house before I left. Otherwise, she'd end up sitting on the porch, watching us leave. She'd end up out there all night long.

"Are you two all right?"

"I think so Emmett."

"Looked like there was some heavy duty shit going on tonight," he replied.

I shook my head in agreement. "You could say that."

We sat in silence for the next few minutes until we reached my house. I saw strobe lights on my block and thought maybe someone had to call an ambulance. As Emmett approached, I saw two police cars in front of my house.

"What the hell?" I muttered before jumping out and running toward the scene. I heard Emmett following behind me.

I spotted Bella's father and went over to him. Unfortunately, that's when I spotted my father too—in the back of Charlie's police cruiser. My father wouldn't look at me when I pounded on the window before Charlie pushed me aside. Instead, his face stayed straight, his eyes on the back of the headrest. His face looked as if it was set in stone. He looked so unlike himself right now. "Mr. Swan, sir, what's going on?"

"Edward." He looked past me to Emmett. "There you are."

"I was at the dance with Bella, remember?"

There was some noise at the front door, and I watched as my mother was being led out of the house in handcuffs. "What is wrong with you? I told you, I don't know what you're talking about!" she screamed loudly.

Emmett and Charlie grabbed me and physically stopped me from going to my mother. I was yelling her name, and she was yelling mine. Once she was placed in the back of the other cruiser, they loosened their grip on me. I slapped their hands away from me and punched Emmett in the shoulder. "How dare you fuckin' help him do that to me!"

"Chill, bro," Emmett said.

"Don't 'bro' me right now!"

"Edward," Charlie said from behind me. I turned around to face him. "I need to take you to the police station too."

"What? I haven't done anything and neither have my parents." I said. "What's going on?"

"I need to take you to the police station," Charlie repeated.

"I'll take him, Charlie." Emmett caught the look of doubt on Charlie's face. "Please let me take him, Charlie. I'll drive between the two cruisers if it makes you feel better."

Charlie agreed, and Emmett led me back to the Mercedes. He apologized for holding me back but told me he thought it was for the best at the time that he did it. I nodded silently in agreement. I watched the police cruiser in front of me—the one with Charlie and my father in the back—drive off ahead of us. The cruiser behind us with my mother stayed closer to us than a tailgater. When we reached the police station, Emmett pulled into the front while the police cruisers went toward the back.

And though I didn't know it at the time, my life as I knew it was over.

* * *

**A/N:** You know what to do. Shower me with comments people! Let it rain!


	13. Revelations 6:22:91

**A/N:** Wow, y'all really came out in droves to comment on the last chapter. At ff[dot]net and Twilighted, Chapter 12 received the most comments above and beyond what I had previously gotten for any other chapter. I managed to bring people out of the woodwork that haven't managed to say anything before. Thank you!

And just to let you know, Brain has a huge as ego thanks to some of you. I had a long talk it with and it won't let me concentrate on anything else now.

At ff[dot]net I forgot to mention that Esme's table cloth tradition actually came from my own family. After my grandmother died in 2004, my aunt didn't have the heart to do it again.

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own Twilight or Dawn so that means I'm not Stephenie Meyers or VC Andrews.

* * *

**Chapter 13: Revelations 6:22:91**

The police station in Forks wasn't as small as I thought it'd be. Not only was it the police station, but it also held the 911 Center for the area and a thirty-bed jail. Emmett somehow knew that last bit of information. And it was that last part that really bothered me. Emmett and I were instructed to take a seat in a pair of hard plastic chairs that killed your ass after sitting in them after five minutes.

"Look, I'm sorry about before, man," Emmett apologized. "I don't know what's going on any more than you do, but I thought it was better if you didn't try to run to your mom. You don't need to be arrested, too."

"Yeah, I doubt that would have helped the situation." I was sitting in that hard plastic chair with my elbows on my knees and my chin in my hands.

"Did I ever tell you that I think my cousin Laura has the hots for me?"

"Please do continue."

He jabbed me in the ribs before continuing. "Both our families were down in California at the beach this past summer. Annual family vacation type deal, you know? I swear to _God_ that the girl faked a drowning. You know, my dad, being who he is, has made sure that me and Alice know CPR. I think Laura tried to kiss me while I was giving her CPR."

"Did you call Jerry Springer?"

"Tempted to, but no, I didn't," He laughed. "And Emily, that girl is something else too. I'm sure that she stole one of my dirty shirts once. I put it in the hamper and never saw it again. That is, until I saw it on her."

"They do realize they're related to you, right?"

"I sure as hell hope so," Emmett said. "Maybe my father should give them a referral for a psych evaluation."

"You're doing an amazing job keeping my mind off the fact that my parents are in jail with stories of your family incest," I told him.

We were silent for a few minutes before Emmett started to squirm in his chair. "Damn, my ass is numb."

"If you'd stop taking it up the ass, I bet that'd solve your problem."

He started chuckling next to me. Emmett's laughter was always infectious, and I ended up following suit. "I thought I was supposed to be comforting you," he said with a sigh.

"I don't really know what we're supposed to be doing," I said. "I've never been hauled into a police station by my best friend."

"At least I wasn't the arresting officer."

"You've got a point there, Emmett."

"Do you need me to call anyone for you?" He had his cell phone out, flipped open and ready to dial any number I needed him to.

I thought about his question for a minute. My mother's parents were both dead, that much I knew. They were in a car accident and passed away the year before I was born. I thought I remembered my father mentioning his mother being alive, but I had never met his parents either. Both Mom and Dad were only children and only had each other. And me. They had me. "There's no one else to call."

Slapping the phone shut, Emmett got up and paced back and forth across the ugly, outdated floor tiles. After a few minutes, I followed behind him. The officer at the desk gave us an odd look. I allowed myself to be an ass and gave her an odd look right back. She wasn't the one who was waiting to find out why her parents were arrested. No, that was me. We were on what felt like our 10,000th lap of the small lobby area when I crashed face first into Emmett's back.

"Yo, freight train, keep moving." I instructed him.

"Hi there, Charlie," Emmett said. I peeked around one of Emmett's massive arms and saw Charlie standing in the hallway. He raised an eyebrow at us. Oh no, not the fucking eyebrow dance right now. I wasn't sure I was in the mood to keep up with their actions.

"You've been keeping busy, I see." Charlie's voice was his usual monotone. It drove me freakin' crazy. Show some emotion, man.

I continued to half hide behind Emmett's back and pointed to the clerk at the desk. "She wouldn't give us a mop and pail so we could actually do something productive. You could've had a clean floor out here."

I could tell that Emmett was shaking his head by the way his body swayed. "Shut it, Edward. What's going on, Charlie?"

I stepped out from behind Emmett and stood next to him. "Yeah, what's going on? Why were my parents arrested?"

"I need you to come with me, Edward." I glanced up at Emmett for like, approval or something.

He shrugged his shoulders. "Go."

After I went with Charlie, I wished I hadn't. All he did was take me in the back and put me in a holding cell like a common criminal. The least he could have done was let Emmett come with me. But noooo, I was back here by myself now. That didn't do me any good whatsoever. Now that I was by myself, my mind wandered and my spirits crashed. I had been trying to keep myself upbeat about this whole situation, but it was kind of hard to do when you're innocent and sitting in a jail cell by yourself.

What I wouldn't give to have a drunk lying on the cot across from me. A drunk could be entertaining at a time like this. I could've taught it stupid animal tricks.

I looked at my watch and found it to be two o'clock in the morning. Just finding out the time made me yawn. I must have been in the holding cell for a good two hours and had counted down to the eight-hundred and fiftieth bottle of beer on the wall when I finally heard some noise outside of the cell.

Human contact at last! It was about damn time.

Please let it be someone other than Charlie and his magical dancing eyebrows. Aw, crap! It was just Charlie looking forlorn as usual. The man needed to get laid or something. Maybe I needed to find who the hell ever Sue was and have a little talk with her. I'd have to tell her to give it up already.

My disappointment quickly dissipated as I watched Charlie lead Bella in through the main door and then opened up my cell. She ran over to me and practically jumped into my arms. "There are cameras in here that are monitored by your _friend_ at the front desk," Charlie explained, pointing to one of the devices up on the wall. Forks was more high tech than I thought. "So, no weird stuff." He slammed the cell door shut and then left the room entirely.

"Why are you here, love?"

"Emmett called me even though you _didn't_ tell him to," she said. "You know, it's not every day that the guy I'm involved with gets thrown in jail by my father."

"Really? I thought Charlie must've thrown every guy you dated in the pokey." She suppressed a giggle by biting her lip and wrapped her arms around my neck. "I don't know what's going on, Bella."

"I know you don't. Charlie wouldn't tell me anything either." Bella whispered the words into my neck. "I'm not totally sure he knows what's going on. I bugged him for the last hour to let me in to see you."

"Thanks for the company, I appreciate it," I said with a yawn.

"You're beat."

"To prove how tired I am, you know I could've made a joke about what you just said, but I'm too damn tired to."

Bella moved off my lap and made me lay down on the flimsy cot. She lay down next to me with her face buried in my chest. One of her hands snaked its way up the back of my shirt and rested there. I could feel her tracing small, circular patterns on my back as I drifted off to sleep.

I felt myself being shaken and my name being called. My eyes fluttered open to find Bella hovering over me. "Wake up, hon."

Rubbing my eyes, I slowly sat up. "What time is it?"

Bella took my wrist and glanced at my watch. "Three-thirty—in the morning, in case you were wondering."

"Edward." I looked up to see Charlie standing in the doorway to the cell. "I need you to come with me."

"Great, not again," I said groggily. "Are you going to put me in an even smaller cell?"

"Come on, son."

I could already tell this wasn't going to be good. Not only was Charlie now able to remember my name, but he called me 'son'. These were all sure signs of an impending apocalypse if I ever saw one.

"Bella, your letters are in my room, in a manila envelope," I told her. "I don't know what's going on. In case I can't get to them, see if Charlie will get them out of the house. The envelope has Emmett's address on the outside of it."

We got up from the cot and went to the door. Charlie must've given Bella a certain look that she was able to decipher because she stopped where she was. Turning to me, Bella kissed my cheek. "Go home and get some sleep, love," I told her. "You're just as tired as I am."

"I will," she promised before Charlie took me down a long corridor (of impending doom of the great apocalypse), stopped in front of a door and opened it. He led me inside a small interrogation room and closed the door behind him. When it closed with a loud thud, I jumped and chided myself for being startled at practically nothing. Then again, it was three-thirty in the morning, and minus the hour and a half nap with Bella, I had been up since six-thirty the previous morning.

"When can I see my parents?"

"I don't know, Edward," Charlie sighed.

"What's up, Chief?"

Charlie took a chair, turned it around, and straddled it. Being too tired to continue standing, I copied his gesture. "So, you like my daughter?"

"Wait, you pulled me and my parents into the police station because I like your daughter? Damn, sir, you've sure got some pull around here."

Charlie shook his head. "That's not why I had to pull your parents in tonight, Edward. I'm sorry I had to do that considering the circumstances with you and Bella."

"What's going on? Why are my parents in trouble? They've never done nothin' bad," I told him.

Charlie rubbed his eyes with his fingertips. He looked as tired as I was. "I'm not totally sure of what's going on myself, Edward. I've been waiting for an official from the LAPD to get their ass up here."

"LAPD as in, like, California?"

"That's right." Charlie sighed. "There were federal orders that I had to detain your parents. I'm sorry, I couldn't say no. I'm just doing my job."

"I get that," I said. "I'm just really confused over why my parents would need to be detained in the first place."

"How have Peter and Elizabeth Masen treated you over the years?"

"Like their son, of course." How the hell did he think they treated me? "What are you getting at, Chief?"

"Have you ever been… um, shit…" Charlie's voice trailed off, and his eyes were trained on his hands on the table. "Have your parents ever hit you or anything? Have they ever abused you?"

"What?" I yelled loudly. "Are you crazy? Besides being spanked when I was younger, my parents have never raised a hand to me. Dad can have a temper sometimes, sure, but he's never punched me or nothin'."

"Has he ever taken anything out on your mother?"

"I heard them fighting once recently, but it was just a verbal quarrel," I explained. "Just words, nothing physical and no chair throwing or anything like that."

"You've never seen your mother with an unexplainable black eye or anything?"

At that point, Charlie had pissed me off beyond belief. How could he be asking me such questions? My parents never hit me or one another. Sure, Mom had playfully smacked Dad, but she never did it hard enough to leave a mark, and she didn't mean to hurt him. Besides catching them in midst of their argument, I'd never heard Dad raise his voice to Mom or be mean to her. I didn't think that he was capable of hitting Mom or me. If he had accidentally laid a hand on us, I could see him being one of those people who let it eat away at him forever. He'd be filled with regret over what he did for the rest of his life.

"No," I said. "And before you ask, 'cause I know you're gonna, I don't have any marks on me either. What do the LAPD and federal officials have to do with this? If someone, I don't know who, turned in my parents for child abuse, I don't understand why the LAPD or federal officials would have any jurisdiction over… this thing."

A knock on the door stopped Charlie from talking. He blocked the door so I couldn't see who it was and stepped outside. All of Charlie's questions about my parents had me worried and raised all sorts of questions in my head. Not to mention that my confusion level was through the roof and sky rocketing as time went on.

Charlie opened the door and ushered in two men. The first man was older, chubby and balding. He was wearing a gray suit, wire-framed glasses, and was carrying a brief case. The other man was younger and was dressed in a black suit, but he had a badge pinned onto the lapel of his jacket. He must've been the official from the LAPD that Charlie had mentioned. This guy was younger age-wise, but his job took a toll on him. There were crease lines in his forehead Charlie didn't even have, and Charlie was visibly older. I dubbed these dudes as Suit #1 and Suit #2 since I was yet to have an introduction. Suit #1 sat down across from me, opened his brief case, and started sorting through some papers. Suit #2 stood in the corner with his hands folded in front of him. He looked like a very unpleasant man.

Suit #1 started to open his mouth, but Charlie sat down next to him and interrupted him. "Can I? Please?"

"It's really not your place," Suit #1 said.

Charlie's magical dancing eyebrows came out to play. "It's really not your place; Edward's a stranger to you."

Suit #1 turned and looked at Suit #2 for some kind of confirmation. Suit #2 silently and casually shrugged his shoulders.

"Edward…oh, Christ." Charlie fidgeted in his chair.

"If you can't do it, Swan, then I'm sure McCann will fill the boy in for you," Suit #2 boomed from the corner. Okay, so Suit #1 was named McCann.

"Shut up, Ford," Charlie told Suit #2, who I could now refer to as Ford. Now that I knew what their names were, I was more in the know about a few things. Except one major thing, like why my parents were currently in a jail cell!

"Put on your big boy pants and tell the boy," Ford reprimanded Charlie. Okay, so now Ford was going to be forever referred to as Jackass, and he made Charlie look a lot better in my eyes.

"Can the jackass in the corner leave, please?" I asked. McCann was emotionless as he trained his eyes down into his brief case. Charlie grinned and Jackass huffed. "Keep on doing that and I'm sure you'll be able to blow down the little piggies' house."

"Teenagers," Jackass said, shaking his head. He stayed put. Damn it.

"Edward," Charlie continued. "I'm sorry to have to be the one to tell you this. I thought it'd be better to hear it from me rather than two strangers."

"So, what, we're best buds now, Charlie?" I deadpanned. He stared at me. "Okay, okay, we're not best buds, yet. Go on."

"Edward, when you were two days old, you were kidnapped from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles."

Oh, shit. "What the hell are you talking about?" The smile from my face disappeared. "What kind of joke is this?"

"It's not a joke," Charlie said. "You were kidnapped by Peter and Elizabeth Masen on June 22, 1991, two days after your birth, from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. They're not your real parents."

"I don't believe you! Why are you doing this to me?" I screamed at Charlie. "Why?"

"We don't understand why the Masens took you," Charlie said, trying to stay calm for more his benefit than mine. "They never tried to contact your real family for a ransom. Rather, they took you and raised you as their own."

I think I grunted at that point, but I don't remember. My mind was fuzzy for a bit, like I was going to black out. My brow was furrowed in confusion, and my chest felt heavy. I thought I was going to have a damn heart attack at seventeen.

"Edward, you have to understand that Peter and Elizabeth will be facing charges for what they did," I vaguely remember Charlie saying. I might've passed out at that point. Maybe I blocked out a block of time from that night, I'm not sure. McCann spewed off information that didn't mean much to me. I think part of it was about DNA testing and the science behind it. I'm sure he was saying something about my real family, but I don't recall what it was. Sometime during the conversation a glass of water ended up sitting in front of me. It remained untouched because water wasn't going to help my situation. I would've downed an entire Olympic-sized swimming pool to make this all go away.

Charlie snapped his fingers in front of my face. I shook my head. "Fuck, what?"

"In case you're wondering, blood tests have been done, and that's how this was investigated." McCann spoke up. "You are no relation to Peter or Elizabeth Masen whatsoever."

"You're joking, Charlie, right? Please tell me you're joking?" I pleaded.

"I'm not joking, Edward," Charlie said.

"Who the hell am I?" I asked. How the hell would anyone have gotten my blood? Did they sneak in my window in the middle of the night like thirsty vampires to get it?

"Your family is actually waiting for you," McCann said. "They'd like to explain the more personal matters to you. The Masens changed your real name."

Oh, fucking great. Not only do I learn that I'm not who I think I am, but I'm going to be immediately forced to be with a bunch of strangers? I hoped they didn't think I was going to go on a happy-go-lucky-let's-have-fun-because-we're-all-together-again family vacation with them. Ain't gonna happen, nuh uh. Fuck no. I don't know them. They don't know me. I repeat, ain't gonna happen, nuh uh. Fuck no.

McCann snapped his brief case shut and raised himself from his seat. Charlie got up and came over to my side. "Come on, Edward."

I grabbed onto his coat for dear life. "Can you tell Bella that I said good-bye?"

"I wouldn't worry about that if I were you," he untangled my fingers from his coat. "I'm sure that your new family will let you see her."

"How can you be so sure?"

"I just am."

Okay, so, let's see if I can get all of this straight. Two days after I was born, I was kidnapped from a hospital in California. How the hell I could've been removed from a hospital like Cedars-Sinai was beyond me. I had heard of the place, but up until this moment, had never been there. Heh, I was there, I don't remember my experience because I was far too young to remember it. Afore mentioned kidnappers then decide to raise me as their own kid and never contacted my real family for a ransom.

This all happened in California, but Charlie said I'd be able to see Bella. So, I'd have to come to the conclusion that my real family now lived somewhere around here. How'd they know who I was? Did one of my real parents see me somewhere and think, "That's my son!" Who the fuck does that shit? That's the thing books and movies are made of, not real lives.

That's when it suddenly hit me. My whole entire life had been a lie. The two people that I loved the most in my world weren't even supposed be in possession of me. The last seventeen years and everything that I knew was false. Who the hell was I? What was my real name? I hoped it wasn't something like Augustus, Cornelius, or something equally cruel. Couldn't I just stay Edward? It was the only thing of me that I had left at this point! This shit was real, and it was happening to me. I wasn't in a book or a movie. What I wouldn't give for that to be true. What I wouldn't give for someone to jump out and yell, "You've been punked!" or "April Fool's Day!" Somehow, I didn't think either of those two things was going to happen right now. Where the hell was Ashton Kutcher when you needed him? Probably off siring kids with that wife of his who was twice his age, that's where. Fuck you, Ashton!

Charlie led me back down the long corridor (of impending doom of the great apocalypse and kidnapped babies), and I nervously stared at the floor. What was my real family like? I hoped like hell they weren't anything like Amish or those people that married more than one woman but claimed they were another kind of relation and always happened to reside in Utah. What the hell was up with that? And though I had a lack of technological skills, I didn't want to have to give up what I knew to live on a farm and milk a cow for the rest of my life. I'd have to give up electricity and indoor plumbing. Given a choice, I'd rather go to Utah and be even more confused about my family relations than I all ready am. I was not giving up electricity and indoor plumbing, damn it!

I felt Charlie stop so I followed suit, standing still but not doing anything. "Edward, this is your family." Charlie stated with authority.

I found that we were back out in the lobby when I finally glanced up. Looking back at me were five very familiar faces.

Oh, shit.

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**A/N:** You know what to do peeps! If you liked it, let me know! Raise your hand if you guessed wrong. If I do it that way, I think I'd have fewer hands to count!


	14. Who I Am

**A/N:** First off, a little shout out to some readers that attend SBM in Louisiana. I don't know you, far as I know I've never heard from you, but you know my beta. How freakin' "a small world" is that? You better behave for her or she'll taunt you relentlessly about what she knows.

I decided to go ahead and post this now because y'all have been freakin' fantastic with reviews. Brain's ego is so damn huge right now it barely fits in my puny skull. Just a warning though, I've only written a paragraph for Chapter 15. So, you're going to have to patiently wait for it! I'm thinking it might be a long one again like 12. I actually had 13 and 14 done and ready but wanted to space them out a little. I'm "evil and shit like that" as my Edward would say.

**DISCLAIMER:** I don't own _Twilight _or _Dawn_. I'm not Stephenie Meyer or VC Andrews and I don't mean any disrespect to anyone that happens to like or live in Utah.

**WARNING:** I have been told to give a Tissue and Drink warning. Crying and spontaneously spitting soda on your computer screen is totally possible.

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**Chapter 14: Who I Am**

I stared in disbelief at my real family. I was now convinced I had to be in some kind of bad movie of the week. This doesn't happen every day, right?

My real family wasn't Amish. Thank God.

My real family didn't reside in Utah and there was only one mother standing before me, not two or more. Thank God.

My real family wasn't of a different race, and I wasn't the oddball white one from an obvious love affair. Eh, that would've been slightly better than the Utah scenario.

Alice was the first one to come to me. "Oh, Eddie!" she cried while wrapping her arms around my body and squeezing me tight. "I'm so sorry about what happened!"

"Midg, leggo the eggo." Alice eased off on the squeezing but still stayed next to my side. Carlisle and Esme—apparently my real parents—were standing a few feet away. Emmett was leaning up against the counter with a smirk on his face and Bella at his side.

I turned to Charlie. "Wait a minute, you're telling me that I'm a Cullen?"

"You didn't hear me?" he asked. I shook my head. "I must've told you when you were in shock or blocking everything out. That actually happened quite a bit back there."

"At least I don't have to give up electricity or indoor plumbing," I mumbled.

"What was that, Eddie?"

"Nothing, Midg."

McCann came up behind me and wedged his way between the counter and myself. He shook Carlisle's hand profusely Carlisle thanked him for his services. "Thank you, Percy, for coming out at such an ungodly hour."

"That's why you keep me on retainer," Percy said gruffly. "You've got emergency custody of your son in case anyone should try to fight you for him while this is all worked out." He headed out the door, and the cool early morning air hit me. I yawned for so long that I had to rub my eyes to open them back up.

"Edward, you look very tired, son." Carlisle spoke up. Was I supposed to immediately refer to him as Dad like Emmett and Alice did? I sure as hell hoped he didn't think that. I wasn't ready for the parents of my two friends to become my parents.

Even though they were my real parents.

Ugh.

Ashton, come out, come out where ever you are, you bastard!

"I'm bushed, Car…lisle." I waited for some kind of response from him, but he didn't do or say anything. Maybe Carlisle understood how confusing all of this was for me. "I've been up for nearly twenty-four hours now."

Esme continued to stand next to Carlisle. She appeared to be calm, but really, her face was giving her away. Esme was really overjoyed and happy. "Yes, let's get Edward home so he can rest."

Home. I'm sure she wasn't thinking the same place I immediately thought of. I wasn't thinking of the huge three story house that the Cullens called home. I was thinking of the small, paint-peeling, crappy two bedroom shack that I had been in since September. There's quite a difference between the two.

Bella left Emmett's side and came over to me. Taking my hand, she stood on my right side since Alice was still guarding my left. "You call me if you need anything, okay?" she said. "Anything."

"I will." Once again, she placed a quick kiss on my cheek before I started following my family outside. Alice was still latched onto my left arm.

"What's my real name?"

Carlisle hit a button on a remote to unlock his Mercedes. Emmett had been driving it earlier, so he must have gone home and came back with… the rest of… our family. This was going to take some getting used to. Emmett went to sit in the passenger seat, which left Esme, Alice, and me to squeeze in the back. "You were named after my father, Anthony Edward Cullen."

"Do I… um…"

"You might as well go by your middle name, like Alice," Esme said.

"I appreciate that," I told her. "I'd never answer to Anthony or Tony."

"I kind of feel left out," Emmett said from the front seat. Carlisle had started the car and was backing out of the parking spot. "I actually go by my first name."

"That's because your middle name is Dale," Alice said from her spot next to me.

"Dale? Where's Chip?" I asked.

"I was named after Mom's father. I've always thought Dale sounded kind of redneckish."

"It was Dale or Eugene," Carlisle said. "I thought Dale was the least embarrassing between the two choices."

"I'd rather be one half of a chipmunk duo than Eugene." Emmett said the name with distaste.

"Mormons!" I blurted out.

"What about Mormons, Edward?" Esme asked.

"Nothing, nothing." I leaned my head against the window. I finally remembered what those blasted polygamists in Utah were called, and I yelled it out in front of everyone for no apparent reason. They probably thought I had Tourette's or something.

I nearly fell asleep before we reached the house. It was at that time I realized that I didn't have any other clothes with me than what I had on. I could sleep in my boxer briefs and I'd be okay tonight, but what about tomorrow? I wasn't anywhere near the same size as Carlisle or Emmett. Two or three of me would fit into a pair of Emmett's pants.

I was just too damn tired to bring the subject up. I'd deal with my clothing issue, and everything else, tomorrow. Or would that be later today? Guess it depended on how long I slept.

Alice let go for long enough that Esme latched herself onto me. She led me into the house that, until this moment, I had only referred to as my friend's house. It didn't feel like a home to me. I didn't feel like I belonged here. Maybe that would change over the course of time.

"Do you need anything, Edward?" Esme asked. "Besides sleep?"

"I think that'll do it." My eyes were half closed.

"I'll show you to your room."

Esme touched my shoulder with an open palm and guided me toward the stairs. I somehow made it up to the third floor without passing out and tumbling all the way back down. We went past Alice's room and I had expected to stop at the guest room, but Esme continued. She opened the door to the room that Emmett had always been confused over because Esme never let anyone use it.

Esme ushered me inside. "This is your room. I hope you find it comfortable."

I glanced around and found it to be set up in the same manner that day Emmett and I peeked inside. "It's nice. Beige is cool. Thanks, Esme."

"Edward?" I was facing the comfortable looking bed that was calling my name. I turned to face Esme, who was in the doorway. "I hope, in time, that you'll be able to call me 'Mom'."

"Maybe in time, Esme."

She quietly turned and left, latching the door behind her. Shit, I think I just ticked off Esme with my little comment. What did she expect from me right now?

I sat down on the bed—my bed—and sighed. This was _my_ room. For years Emmett had thought that his—our—mother had lost a baby before he was born. He thought that the loss of the baby was so horrible for Esme that she couldn't let go. He thought that she kept the room up as some sort of living tribute. In a way, he was right. Esme kept this room _for me_. After all these years, she had never given up on me. She never gave up the thought that I'd be returned to them someday. Esme never gave up on _me_.

All of this was some really heavy shit that I just couldn't handle at that moment. There were tears in my eyes, and they were so near the edge of just spilling over and falling down my cheeks. I had never cried so much until I landed in Forks. Was there something in the damn water here? I'm only drinking bottled water from now on! I rubbed my eyes and heard a soft knock at the door.

"Yeah, come in."

Emmett poked his head inside. "Dad told me to bring these to you." He stepped into my room and came over to me. Placing a pair of black sweat pants and a battered looking white t-shirt across the foot of the bed, Emmett sat down next to me. "They're his and they'll probably be a little big on you. I know my stuff won't fit you."

"I'd be swimming in your stuff. I probably fit into Alice and Esme's things."

"Don't go all cross dresser on me now, bro."

"How the hell ironic is it that you thought of me as a brother."

Emmett shifted on the bed. "I didn't know anything. Honestly, I didn't. I thought of you as a brother, but I didn't know it was true."

"I wasn't thinking otherwise."

"I'm kind of pissed that they never told me or Alice anything about this. I knew we had lived in California when I was younger, but we moved up here when I was too young to remember."

"Is that why you vacationed in California?" I asked.

"I guess so," Emmett started and paused. "Mom never seemed to have a good time when we were down there. I guess it was because of her memories of losing you were tangled up with that state. I don't know why she'd put herself through that."

Emmett lay back on my bed and stared at the ceiling. I hated that I had brought so much pain to a woman I didn't even truly know.

I felt the bed shift under Emmett's weight as he sat up. "Are you okay?"

"I don't know," I sniffed.

"You're crying, Edward."

"Did they teach you that in kindergarten?"

I felt his big, burly hand on my shoulder. "Come here."

"What?" I asked. "Are you gonna hold me and make it all go away?"

"Talk to me, man."

I glanced up at him with tears dripping down my cheeks. "My entire life has been a lie, Emmett. I'm confused. I'm sad. I'm angry. Is that what you want to hear?"

"I want to hear whatever you want to tell me," Emmett said. "I'm sorry that I can't make this all go away. If I could turn back time and never become friends with you in Photography, I would. If that's what it'd take to make you feel better, I'd undo this entire thing. I'd do anything for you, bro, but unfortunately, I don't have a time machine."

Oh, Jesus, I had to get a kind and compassionate brother and best friend. His words made me start to bawl. "If you speak of this night to anyone, I will find someone to give your ass a severe beating!" I warned him.

"Get your scrawny little ass over here so I can console you."

I moved toward Emmett, and he reached out for me. It felt so damn gay. Guys aren't supposed to be all huggy and touchy with each other, are they? He wrapped his arms around me in a tight embrace. I felt Emmett's big hands on my back, rubbing it as he rocked me back and forth. My face was crushed to his chest, muffling my sobs.

And that's how I fell asleep that night, wrapped in my brother's arms.

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**A/N:** You know what to do! Feed the ego and I might get 15 out faster than I expect to. I know a lot of you guessed the storyline, but I'm glad you stayed for the ride. _Legacy_ isn't anywhere near being over.


	15. Through My Eyes

Another long way - 9,685 words, or 21 pages, according to Word.

**DISCLAIMER:** I don't own Twilight or Dawn. I'm not Stephenie Meyer or VC Andrews.

A big thanks to Birdee as usual for fixin' my shit. Please see the Author's Note at the end.

* * *

**Chapter 15: Through My Eyes**

I'd always wanted a younger brother. Don't get me wrong, Alice had been a great sister, but I always thought having a brother would be so much different. For some unknown reason, I always thought that having a brother would be better than having a sister. A brother would've been someone I could've palled around with. I'd always have someone to cover my back. He'd be someone to beat up and wrestle with, but he'd still love you because, well, he was obligated to. It'd be so much more than an obligation, though. Maybe when I was younger, he'd be someone I could've run around doing boy stuff with like building tree forts and exploring the woods out back. He'd be someone I could talk about girls with.

He'd be a buddy, a pal, comrade… a built-in best friend. You know, a brother.

Alice always wanted me to attend tea parties with her dolls. She'd try to dress me up and put make up on me. Dad had to explain to her that I was a boy and that boys don't wear make up or dresses. I wanted someone to be Megatron to my Optimus Prime. Alice wanted a life size doll to play with. I wanted someone to play with Matchbox cars in the sand box. Alice wanted to style someone's hair.

Aside from the obvious fact that we were two different sexes, Alice was always very girly girly and refused to be a tomboy. I refused to put a dress and hat on to sit down for fake tea with a bunch of dolls and talk in a high pitched voice.

Nuh uh.

Even though we had all missed out on Edward's first seventeen years, I was secretly ecstatic to have him in my life. He was what I always wanted in a brother. I hated the fact that he was so miserable right now. This entire situation had to be confusing as hell for him. I felt like we were in a calm before the storm. He hadn't really lashed out at anyone like I would have expected. If I were in his shoes, I would've broken something… or honestly, several things. Instead, he stayed pretty silent until I pressured him to open up. I mean, he was bawling in my arms and I was rocking him back and forth like a mother comforting a baby. Guh, you know one guy hates to see another guy cry. It's written somewhere in the invisible but widely-known man handbook that it's okay to cry, just don't do it in front of other men unless you're at a wake, funeral, or other sad event. Okay, wait, back that train of thought up. Sad event. Yup, finding out you were kidnapped as infant would certainly qualify.

Now, I felt even worse because I had encouraged Edward to open up, and now I was responsible for his tear-streaked face. Some brother I am.

I meant it when I said that if I could change time, I would. Edward would still be happy with Peter and Liz. He would have never known that he was kidnapped. Then it came to me. There was one major crinkle in my plan—my own parents. They'd still be experiencing the pain of having lost a son. Shit, that wasn't right either. I still couldn't help but think that if that day in Photography had somehow gone down differently… maybe we could all still be happy…

It was almost the end of September, and we still hadn't taken a single damn picture in Photography. I had talked my father into letting me purchase a thirty-five millimeter camera of my own. The school didn't have that many to loan out so if I had my own, I'd be able to get my projects done faster. My father argued with me that I'd never need the camera after the class was finished. I simply told him I'd donate it to the school. That got him.

I had the camera in my hands, silently reviewing what we had learned so far when the new kid that I had heard about walked in the classroom. Hell, the high school only barely had three-hundred and fifty students, so everyone knew when you took a shit let alone when a new kid hit campus.

I saw Moorhead point in my direction. Yup, the new kid was going to have to sit with me. I heard one of the airhead girls in the class mutter something about new kid's appearance. The dumb bitch thought she was being inconspicuous, but if I heard her, he must have too. He didn't turn around and bitch her out though. He ignored her and continued toward me.

"Hey, I'm supposed to sit back here with you," he said hesitantly, pulling out the stool next to me.

I stopped messin' around with the camera and looked at him. "That's cool. Names Emmett, you?"

"Edward."

I gave Edward a good once over. The poor kid looked, well, poor. His clothes were too small for him and really needed to be replaced. As he stood there waiting for me to say something, I realized that he didn't stink, so that was good. His family being poor was one thing, but soap is cheap and water is free. There's a distinguishable difference between being poor and trying your best and being poor and not giving two shits about personal hygiene. Edward obviously fell into the first category.

"Cool. Have a seat, bro." I pointed to the stool he had previously grabbed. "Moorhead is about to give us a lecture on apertures." I put my camera back into its case. "I just want to start taking pictures. Hey, you can be my lookout while I sneak into the girls' shower! Now, that'd be some great photography." He looked at me like I was insane. I wasn't. "Damn, still on the lookout for a lookout."

"You know that after you turn twenty-one you're not legally supposed to be here, right?" Edward asked me. Turns out, the kid thought I was like, twenty-one or something. I wish.

"I've been told that I was held back in kindergarten." I shrugged. "I don't remember."

Edward laughed for the first time. "What? You couldn't color inside the lines? Did you forget to go potty too many times? Did you not play well with others?"

I stared at him, trying not to laugh, but I couldn't help it. The smile I had on my face erupted into laughter and everyone else started to stare at us.

"Alright class, it's time to start," Mr. Moorhead stated from the front of the room. "Simmer down back there, Cullen."

I extended my hand toward Edward in a gesture of friendship. "Emmett Cullen."

"Edward Masen." He took my hand, and I noticed he winced when I squeezed it. I needed to remember to be gentler with people.

"You're alright, kid. I think this is going to be an interesting school year."

If I had only known.

Later on at lunch, my favorite time period of the day, Bella asked the question everyone else had. "Who's the new kid?" Bella wondered aloud, sneaking a peek at Edward. He was slouching down in a chair at a table by himself with his nose in a book.

"His name's Edward," I informed her. "He's in Photography with me."

"He's cute."

I almost choked on my water. Bella thought Edward was cute? She rarely ever paid attention to the other guys in school. This was a milestone of most epic proportions.

Rose laughed. "Bella would like the _poor_ kid."

"What do you mean by that?" Bella asked.

Rose glanced at Edward with distaste. It wasn't easy to convince her to let someone in our little circle. "He doesn't stink, does he, Emmett?" Before I could say anything to Rose, Jasper spoke up. He knew better than anyone else how much of a snide bitch Rose could be when she was in one of her moods.

"Sister dear, turn the bitch switch off and act human," Jasper said, turning to his twin. "Not everyone was blessed with a bank account." Rose rolled her eyes at him and didn't utter another word about his appearance. "So, what's this Edward like?"

I shrugged my shoulders. "He seems all right. He asked me how old I was and when I told him I was eighteen and had failed kindergarten, he cracked me up by picking on me."

"And the boy is still alive?" Alice questioned me. I was thankful that she covered her mouth to block the view since she was chewing a sandwich. "What'd he say?"

"Let's see…he was like, 'You couldn't color inside the lines? Did you forget to go potty? Did you not play well with others?' It was fuckin' hilarious, sis." I chuckled at the memory.

They all laughed. "So, can we ask him to join us?" Bella asked with a wide smile. Her voice sounded eager with excitement.

I found four pairs of eyes trained on me. "What? When did I become the damn decision maker for all five of us? Aren't any of you capable of making a decision without me?"

"You're the only one who's met him and talked to him," Rose explained. "You'd at least have an idea if he was just out to get something from us."

Jasper shook his head in agreement. "Man, you know how the kids here think Bella only hangs with us because of our money."

"Dumbasses," Bella sighed. Even though she had never told me, I knew it annoyed her that others thought of her in that way. It didn't help matters that Alice loved to shop and often targeted Bella with her shopping sprees.

"I didn't get that vibe from him," I said. "You know if he was like that, I think he would have come over and asked to join us. He would've been more outgoing. I mean, come on, look at him, he's reading at lunch. Edward seems kind of shy and introverted to me."

"I trust your gut feeling almost as I do mine," Alice said. "I vote yes."

"Me too," Jasper chimed in. He turned toward his sister. "You better vote yes or I'm going to disown you. Better yet, I'll hold you down and let Bella kick you repeatedly in the shins."

Rose glared at him. "Oooh, I'm shakin' in my stiletto heels. Fine, invite him over. I'm just going to be wary about him until we get to know him."

"Fair enough," I told her and turned to Bella. "Okay, go invite him over and make the group proud."

"Me?" I tried not to laugh because her face had turned bright red from embarrassment. "You want me to go get him? You know him, why don't you go get him?"

"This was your idea, Bella," I reminded her. "It's your responsibility to bring him over."

"Bring him over?" Alice laughed. "What is this? Star Wars and we're the dark side?"

Jasper covered his mouth with his hand, pretended to breathe heavily, and spoke with a deep, raspy voice. "Edward, we are your new friends now."

I watched as Bella got up from her chair and positioned herself in Edward's direction. She was working up the nerve to go over to him. I reached over and pinched the back of her leg right above the knee, and it startled her just enough to get her ass moving. Oh man, did it get her ass moving. I've been friends with Bella forever and have had a crush on Rose for at least the last two years. However, I was an unattached hormonal teenage male and could appreciate a woman swaying her hips in a sexy fashion any damn time I wanted. My eyes followed Bella until she stopped in front of Edward's table. She was wearing that god damned private school girl uniform that Alice bought for her.

I could admit it. Bella looked hot in that damn get-up.

Bella in her private school girl uniform and Rose in a tight pair of jeans and heels always got me going. Yeah, today was a bad day concentration wise since they were both wearing what I loved to see on them. It was like they were secretly torturing me.

Bella was talking to Edward and then leaned over his table. Shit, ass cheek alert! Crap, if she got caught again she was probably going to get suspended.

"Don't make me come and get you, Eddie! Get your ass over here!" I yelled out across the cafeteria. Marietta, the monitor for our lunch hour, came over and scolded me for yelling and using offensive language. Hey, I figured it'd be better if I got served with an hour of Spartan Service rather then Bella getting suspended. It was my idea that she'd go over to Edward and make him join us. In an odd connect-the-dot way, it was my fault she leaned over and exposed her lovely ass cheeks for the world to see. An hour of Spartan Service would be worth it!

Bella grabbed Edward's backpack, which was falling apart, and hoisted it up onto her shoulder. Edward got up and followed Bella to our table, but he looked less than thrilled about it. Bella did the introductions and then we all sounded like a bunch of idiots when we said "Hi, Edward!" together. The poor boy—I do mean that quite literally and figuratively—was overwhelmed.

Edward sat there and listened to us, playing the role of observer. I don't know if he was always like that or if he was uncomfortable. Some people were shy and quiet until they got to know you, and then you couldn't shut 'em up if your life depended on it. I caught him glancing at Rose and Bella quite a few times. At least the kid had good taste in girls.

I had asked him to hang out with us after school at my house, and he reluctantly agreed if it was okay with his parents. Edward almost busted a nut when Bella kissed him on the cheek before she dragged him off to Biology. I know she had been wanting to get away from Mike and Tyler since school started earlier in the month.

At the end of the day I was waiting with Rose and Bella to see if Edward would meet us when I felt my cell phone vibrate in my pocket. I checked it and found I had gotten a text from Alice.

_Caught makin out w/ Jazz in bathroom. Detention 2nite. Pick us up l8r._

Oh, hell no. You get caught doing something you could be doing at home and you can take the damn bus. I decided to torture my dear pip squeak of a sister. I chuckled as I texted her back.

_Enjoy the ride on the l8 bus home. CU l8r sis, luv ya!_

Edward met us at the flagpole that afternoon just in time before the buses left. I often wondered if he had meant to actually meet us or not. He rounded the corner of the building and was surprised to see us standing there waiting for him. When we got to my house Edward's eyes were practically poppin' out of his head.

I knew that Bella already had a thing for Edward. Damn, she flashed him her underwear as she was getting out of the Jeep. She had better knock that off or he was going to think she's a grade A+ ho. From the look on Edward's face, he sure as hell enjoyed the show and the crotch-grinding action Bella gave him. Edward was a lucky boy indeed!

As the night wore on, Edward became more comfortable with us and talked more. Bella lay all over him on the couch. Alice hugged and kissed him on the cheek. It was funny watching him play Wii since he had never done so before. He kept on sticking his tongue sideways out of his mouth in concentration. I hoped he wasn't going to bite the thing off. He was a bit uncomfortable during dinner when everyone was interrogating him. We just wanted to know more about him. Later on, Rose even stopped being a bitch for a while and cuddled up with him during the movie. I told her that he didn't stink!

I had a feeling that Edward's house might not be in the best area of town and that he might be embarrassed about any of us seeing it. That was precisely why I dropped Bella off at home first. Bella's father didn't have money like my family or the Hales. She wasn't snobby like Rose could be either. Bella didn't care about brand names or shit like that. She'd much rather shop at Wal-Mart than the department stores that Alice always dragged her to. Unfortunately, I was correct with my assumption with Edward's living arrangements. The house appeared to have seen better days. They had a roof over their heads and that was the important thing, right?

The next day in school I passed Edward in the hallway between second and third period. I asked him if he wanted to hang out after school at my house, but he said he couldn't but maybe tomorrow night. Friday night!

"Friday night, man! Movies?" I stopped in the hallway and everyone went around me. I felt like a freakin' ship in an ocean or something.

"Can't, I'm broke." He looked embarrassed for admitting to having no money. I quickly did some math in my head. A movie was almost ten bucks, plus some pizza, and that'd come to about fifteen or somethin'. Fifteen times two—I always pay for Bella—and that was thirty bucks. What the hell was thirty bucks for me?

"Don't worry about it. I gotcha."

I can't believe he actually thought we were going to sneak into the movies. I did not need to be caught doing that shit. I didn't consider him a charity case either. Like I stated before, what the hell was thirty bucks for me?

Walking down the hallway, I grabbed my cell and flipped it open. _Ok, we're on 4 the movies 2morrow nite. Edward is going like u requested. _I hit send, and the message was on its way to Alice.

Later on, Alice told me that she and Jasper found Edward sitting a different table at lunch. She had gone over to him and threatened him if she didn't march right over to our table. I had to laugh at the thought of Alice threatening anyone. That's when the two of them picked out nicknames for each other and started in with the Eddie and Midg stuff.

I offered Edward a ride home that afternoon, but he stubbornly refused. I figured he was embarrassed for everyone to see his house in broad daylight. It was totally understandable. He didn't know us from an ant hill; maybe he was trying to protect himself to a certain extent. I didn't push him.

On Friday afternoon we left for the mall right from school. We had some time before we had to hit the movie theater which meant the girls wanted to shop. Or, should I say, Alice and Rose wanted to shop. Jasper and I were looking at a few things in one of the men's stores when the girls came in. Alice caught Edward checking out some shirts, but I couldn't hear their conversation. I was sure that she was trying to buy something for him. About half of Alice's monthly clothing budget was spent on someone other than herself. Mom and Dad didn't seem to mind since it usually went to clothe Bella. I knew

Edward wouldn't understand Alice's willingness to help someone out, and I watched him shake his head when she mentioned buying the shirt for him.

Pip Squeak wouldn't take no for an answer. Edward didn't know that at the time though.

That's when Bella, who had been hiding behind me, was spotted by Alice, who wanted to drag her back into another store, and they started running laps around me. I felt like part of a human obstacle course. When we went to eat Edward had tried to make an excuse to stay out of the food lines. I didn't forget what he had said earlier—he was broke. I wasn't going to let him starve for dinner. What I really wanted was an Italian Sub from the pizza place. Knowing that Edward felt uncomfortable about buying dinner for him, I settled on pizza for both of us. Pizza was cheaper, and I hoped it wouldn't make him feel like I was spending a fortune on him.

Bella was sitting next to me with Edward between her and Rose. Though I didn't think much of it at the time, I thought that Rose was flirting with Edward. Women and their damn one-eighties, I was going to get whiplash. While we were waiting for the movie to start, that's when I first had an opportunity to find out who sang the blasted thing. It was that freakin' song, playing in the background of the dimly lit theater, which would haunt me for the next several months.

_Why do I keep running from the truth  
All I ever think about is you  
You got me hypnotized  
So mesmerized  
And I've just got to know_

I nudged Bella with my elbow to get her attention. "Who the hell sings this damn song?"

"It's that David Archuleta from American Idol," she said. "Why, do you like it?" There was a sarcastic tone to her voice. I didn't even watch that stupid _American Idol_ show. My dad always said that he liked _Star Search_ because it was more about talent then two seconds of fame. I really disliked the fact that a lot of the people on the show went out of their way to be made fun of. I didn't bother to wait and watch when the real talent contest finally started.

"No, I just wanted to know why David Artichoke keeps on haunting me."

"Archuleta."

"Artichoke."

"Ar-chu-let-a." Bella slowly pronounced his last name out syllable by syllable.

"Ar-ti-choke."

"Doofus," she said.

"Love you too, Bella."

_When I look at you  
Are you holding back  
Like the way I do  
'Cause I'm trying, trying to walk away  
But I know this crush ain't going  
Away  
Going away_

I glanced over at Rose, who was yammering away in Edward's ear about something. She caught me staring at her and smiled. Gah, I gotta knock this shit off. I was only setting myself up for a big, gigantic fall with Rose. I smiled back and then trained my eyes on the screen that was playing lame movie trivia.

I secretly wanted to pound my fist into the air. Screw you, Artichoke!

After the movie, we headed to the arcade to get in a few games before the mall closed. One time, when Bella and I were hanging by ourselves, the worker didn't know that we were in the back of the arcade and locked us in. I had to call the police, tell them what happened and ask for them to contact mall security to let us out. True story, swear to God!

"You're creaming my ass, Emmett."

Edward and I were sitting at the wheel of one of the race car driving games. "You're not a bad driver," I said. "At least for a video game. You could totally kick my ass with some practice."

"Thanks, this just reminds me that I should really get my license."

"You don't have it yet?"

"No, I have my permit, but it was issued in Utah," Edward explained. "I guess I'd have to get it transferred to Washington State first."

"I can take you to the DMV," I offered.

Edward flinched. "Um, can you do me a favor and find out first how if it'd cost anything to have it transferred? And how much a road test would be? You know, can you find out that stuff online?"

"I can help you out with that stuff."

"Can you just find out how much it'll cost so I can get the money up?" Edward shifted uncomfortably in the seat.

"Don't worry, Edward, I can help you with that stuff," I said. "You should start practicing on my Jeep so you can get used to driving it for the road test."

"Your Jeep? For the road test?" In the short time that I'd known him, Edward seemed like a smart kid. Except for this very moment when he couldn't seem to put two and two together.

"Yeah, you know, you need a vehicle to drive at the road test. Your Mom and Dad work, right? We can get notes from our parents to be excused from school, and I can take you to the road test."

"Um, thanks Emmett."

The kid still seemed confused. Edward played the next round against the game while I left to get some more tokens. When I was at the token machine, Alice bumped against me.

"Doofus, put this in your bag and give it to Edward when and only when you drop him off."

She was shoving a plastic shopping bag at my chest. "What the hell is this?"

"It's a little something for Edward," she explained, her face flushed from running back to the arcade. "It's that shirt that he was admiring in the men's store. I'm sure he and Jazz are the same size, so I picked one up in Jazz's size for Edward."

"Alice."

"Emmett."

"_Alice_."

"_Emmett_."

"Okay! We know each other's names! I don't think Edward is going to like this," I said. "I had a hard enough time convincing him to let me buy him a few slices of pizza."

"That's why you spring it on him while you're dropping him off. Not a single minute sooner."

"The poor boy didn't know what he got himself into when he became friends with us." Alice slipped the small bag with the shirt for Edward into my larger bag and glared at me. "I didn't mean the poor part literally, geez, Mary Alice. You know I don't care about that crap."

"I thought I was going to have to slap the shit out of you, big bro."

I crossed my arms across my chest and laughed. "I'd like to see you try. You'd need a ladder just to slap me in the face, short stack."

The next time we were in a pool together I'd need to watch my back. Alice vowed that she'd crawl up onto Jasper's shoulders and would slap the livin' shit out of me if I ever said anything bad about Edward. We had been friends with the kid for two days now, and she was all overprotective of the boy's skinny ass already.

That night, I waited and gave the bag to Edward just before he was ready to hop out of the Jeep. He seemed confused at first and then overwhelmed. You'd think no one ever did anything nice for him.

Edward managed to get switched into my English class (where I tortured myself every single day by sitting next to Rose) when he needed to change his schedule. I took him to the DMV, got his permit switched over, and I let him drive my baby, my Jeep, for practice. The kid did really well driving, and I thought that he wouldn't have any trouble passing a road test. Edward also started a part time job at the Thriftway. I'd drop him off and then pick him up later on after he was finished. He didn't get many hours, but after he got his job, he'd hardly ever let me pay for anything. I still always made sure I had extra money on me to take care of Edward and Bella.

Early on, Rose had been concerned about Edward's lack of money. After I told her about his family's house and how he seemed to be uncomfortable when I paid for him, she let up on Edward a lot. I think she realized that he was a nice kid who happened to be, well, poor. Not everyone was able to change their circumstances, even when they want to. I ventured to guess that his parents were hard workers and they did the best that they could do for him. After our little talk, it didn't bother her that we were his friends. In fact, one day before Edward got to English, I caught Rose cussin' two pricks out because they had been making fun of Edward's appearance.

And what happened then? Well, in Forks they say that Rose's small heart grew three sizes that day.

Wait, no, that was the day that Rose wore an awesome push up bra which appeared to be a size too small—or just that awesome—and for an unexplainable reason, I watched _How the Grinch Stole Christmas_ on DVD.

Of all people, Rose was the last one who I thought would ever stand up for Edward, or, well, anyone else for that matter. It's not that Rose was a bad person—far from it. If she let's you in, you'd find out that she's a great person and a fantastic friend. Rose's problem was letting people in. When she was thirteen, I walked the quarter of a mile to the Hales house to hunt down Jasper. No one answered the front door, but I soon heard noises from the pool house. Curious, I headed over to check out what was going on. I remember panicking when I heard Rose screaming, "No! Get off of me!"

Opening the door to the pool house, I found Damien Riglitori on top of Rose. She was kicking and screaming in an attempt to push him off of her. Thankfully, even back then I was bigger than the rest of the kids in my class. I grabbed Damien by the back of the neck, removed him from Rose, and beat the livin' daylights out of him.

Damien was supposed to be her boyfriend. Some boyfriend. No means no. I broke his nose in three places and sprained one of his ribs. It was worth it, and I'd totally do it again for Rose. I'd do the same thing for Alice or Bella too. No one fuckin' messes with one of my loved ones and gets away with it.

He and Rose were assigned to some class project together in school, but Rose was too afraid to spend time alone with Damien. I couldn't blame her one bit. Damien, who was now deathly afraid of me, agreed that they would meet at the library for their project. I tagged along and sat nearby in case the creep tried anything. One day, I heard Damien trying to apologize and talk Rose into seeing him again. Afraid she'd agree, I got up out of my seat, walked over to them, smacked him in the back of the head and told him, "Get back to work." The next day in gym class I confronted Damien in the locker room. I told him to pick a body part that he preferred to be broken. The idiot seemed kind of confused at first so I broke it down for him—if he messed with Rose again not only was I going to re-break his nose, but I was going to break another bone in his body too. I was being nice and asking if he had a preference over a leg or arm and if it should be on the right or left side of his body. I'm a nice guy like that.

After they were done with their project, Damien never said another word to Rose. The following year, his family moved away from Forks. Good riddance to bad rubbish or what the hell ever the saying is.

I don't know what happened with Rose after the pool house incident. I know Damien didn't rape her, but the fact that she was attacked affected her deeply. She changed a little bit, but she wouldn't talk to me about what happened other than to thank me for what I did. I almost thought that Rose went through periods where she'd try to open up to people. If someone disappointed her, then she went back and reverted into the snide bitch routine.

Jasper knew something was wrong and managed to get Rose to open up to him. I don't know how much she told him, but he thanked me for saving her. He also mentioned once that he thought that their parents didn't believe Rose and that she set it up so that I'd beat up Damien "for fun." What the fuck kind of parent thinks that about their own daughter? Rose was more careful with whom she became friends with and she hardly dated, although she was asked out frequently. This was why it really surprised me that she took such a liking to Edward. Maybe Alice talked to Rose and told her that she had a good "gut feeling" about him. I wasn't sure I'd ever know.

Eventually, I opened up to Edward about my family and my money. I took him upstairs and told him the "family secrets" as you'd call them. I think I've always wanted someone else's input, but Edward just took the information in and promised secrecy. I didn't even have to get him to do a pinkie swear or nothin'.

That also happened to be the day that I found out two very important things. First off, Edward had thought that Bella and I were dating. I quickly brought him up to speed with Bella and me, informing him of our good friendship and our sixth grade activity under the bleachers. I don't know why I told him that, honestly. Secondly, and most importantly in my book, Edward told me that he thought that Rose liked me. I was giddier than a senior citizen devouring their early bird dinner. Edward agreed to check out the situation a little more without letting Rose in on his intentions. I never thought the girl that I had liked for so long might actually like me too.

One day we were all packed into the Jeep waiting for Edward's shift at the Thriftway to end. Rose suddenly became thirsty and stated that she was going inside to get a bottle of water. I offered to go with her, but she said she was fine even though she seemed kind of moody. When Alice got impatient and declared that she was going into the Thriftway, Jasper and I followed.

When we walked through the double doors my ears were once more assaulted with that god forsaken song.

_Has it ever crossed your mind  
When we're hanging,  
Spending time, girl, are we just friends  
Is there more  
See it's a chance we've gotta take  
'Cause I believe that we can make this  
Into something that'll last  
Last forever_

I wanted to choke an artichoke. Wait, that sounded kind of dirty…

We found Edward and Rose at a register, standing awfully close together when Alice decided to run and body slam Edward against the soda case. I swear, I don't know what the hell goes through Alice's head sometimes. Seriously, what person in their right mind who's barely four foot nine inches goes and body slams someone Edward's size?

I could only hope that Rose and Edward talked about me while they were alone together. I was itching to find out more based on Edward's initial suspicions. Every time I asked if he had talked to Rose, Edward would always say, "Haven't found the right time." I wished he'd find the right time already!

Edward introduced all of us to his mother, who was the cashier at the register we were at. "Guys, this is my mom," he said and everyone but Alice mumbled a meek "Hello, Mrs. Masen" back to her. Alice was her usual hyper and exuberant self and waved like a maniac. Jasper could be on the right track about getting Alice… well, on the track team. "Mom, this is Rosalie Hale, Emmett Cullen, Bella Swan, Jasper Hale, and Alice Cullen." He pointed to each of us when he said our names.

"It's great to meet the woman who raised such a nice, fine boy," I said, immediately wishing I go back in time and stop myself from speaking. How the hell stupid did that sound? Even Bella, who was standing next to me, realized how dumb I sounded and was trying not to laugh out loud.

"Don't mind Emmett, Ma, he failed kindergarten so he's a little slow," Edward said.

Rose started choking on her water and like the dolt I am, I ran over to make sure she was okay. It was just water for Christ's sake! I gently patted her on the back. "You okay, Rosie?"

She coughed once more, and I noticed a trickle of water running down her chin. I reached up and wiped it away with my fingertips.

"I'm fine." She cleared her throat. "Edward and that damn kindergarten shtick."

"I know what you mean," I said, feeling everyone's eyes on us. Edward's mother cleared her throat to get our attention because a customer had come up behind us and needed to be checked out.

Edward took the lead in order to get us out of the store. "I'll see you later, Ma."

For some odd and unknown reason, the rest of us yelled out "Bye, Ma!" in unison. It was kind of freaky if you asked me.

After the "Rose almost choking on nothing but water incident," it seemed as if Edward was trying to put us together all the time. He'd ignore us in English. If he saw us together in the hallway, he'd quickly go the other way. If Alice and Jasper were going to go off somewhere, he convinced Bella to go with them. Subtle he wasn't, but he scored points in my book for thinking to do such a thing. The more time I got to spend alone with Rose, the more I was convinced that I wanted to be with her. She never had a heavy guard up around me, but she was acting more carefree lately and I liked it.

Since Edward had inertly encouraged Bella to spend time with him, she was flirting with him even more than before. I can't even describe how the hell funny it was to watch those two. Edward's eyes were always buggin' out of his head while Bella did something to turn the poor boy on. I knew that he was becoming more and more attracted to her, but he didn't want to pursue a relationship since his family moved around so much. I needed to have a little talk with Bella and maybe explain some things to her. She enjoyed flirting with Edward, but I didn't want her to get her heart broken when he rejected her or moved. I wasn't sure that she had thought that far in advance.

Halloween at Casa de Cullen is always fun. For the third year in a row, I managed to make Mike Newton piss his pants in the Haunted Maze. It was so damn funny when it happened that I nearly pissed myself. It was hard to keep my eyes off of Rose at Halloween. She was dressed in a sexy nurse's uniform that was very low cut. I noticed that Edward was checking her out too. He needed to concentrate his ogling to Bella and leave Rose to me. I thought it was only fair because after I had found out that Rose might like me, I had virtually stopped ogling Bella.

While we were hanging out in the living room before the festivities started, I was a fucking moron and asked Bella if she was bald. Then I really made the biggest dumbass mistake and asked Rose if she had the same thing done. I wanted to bang my head against the wall. You don't ask the girl that you have a crush on if she's removed all the hair from her pussy with wax. It's not well, polite in any form. I had one of my very frequent "Stupid Emmett" moments that I immediately regretted.

That night everyone camped out in my room. Bella slept in my bed with me, but we didn't cuddle or anything. We've cuddled in the past, but this time, neither of us went to one another. It was probably for the best since Bella was obviously dreaming about Edward. I didn't need her to accidentally grind up against me while dreaming about someone else.

I knew that Alice wouldn't give up her campaign to clothe Edward. The next morning I was wondering where he had disappeared to. I went up to the third floor and caught him trying to sneak back down stairs. That's when I overheard Alice talking to Jasper. I loved my little sister, but she didn't listen to others when she really should. She was overbearing like a mother hen. It didn't take a psychic to know that very soon Edward would be obtaining some newer clothes.

When we reached the living room, Edward seemed kind of antsy. He stared at the piano in the corner of the room.

"Emmett, do you think anyone would mind if I played the piano a little?"

"You play the piano?"

Edward did that thing where he looked at the floor and scratched the back of his head nervously. "A little. I haven't had any formal training, but I've picked up things up."

"I don't see why not," I said honestly. "It's Mom's, but I don't think she'd mind if you played."

He sat down on the bench and at first, his playing was rough and he missed a note here and there. Soon enough, he got the feel of the piano and he was sounding really good. I tell ya, that kid never ceased to amaze me.

Our area got hit with a snow storm on the day of Edward's road test and school was canceled. I was a little worried at first because of the weather, but then I remembered that he was a great driver. When he was done and pulled back up to the curb, I couldn't tell if he had passed or not. Nervously, I waited for a sign. I could see that the DMV person was saying something to him and then he gave me the thumbs up sign. Whew!

To celebrate, Rose, Jasper, and Alice met us at Bella's. When I told Edward that we were going to go sleigh riding, he looked at me like I was crazy. He probably thought I wouldn't do something as silly as sleigh riding. Maybe he thought it was kind of childish. I don't know, but I didn't care because it was a simple pleasure in my life that I enjoyed. It was a part of my childhood that I refused to give up. To be honest with you, Alice, Bella, Jasper, and Rose refused to give it up too. I know they had just as much fun as I did sliding down the hill behind Bella's house at a breakneck speed.

Edward didn't know what hit him when I threw a snow ball at him and it thwacked him in the face. He and Bella ran to hide behind some bushes. I admit it, that day he got the better of me and forced ice pellets up my nose with his revenge sneak attack. It was all in good fun though.

Edward grabbed Bella's hand and led her off to a sleigh for the two of them. That left Rose and I to squeeze into one of the red contraptions. Seriously, they need to make sleds for bigger guys like myself. I felt like I was size eleven foot being forced into a pair of size ten sneakers. It just doesn't freakin' work.

Reaching back, I pushed us off the hill, and it should have been a great run. What I didn't foresee was a snow drift that uprooted us right from the sled and into the snow. I swear, I very embarrassingly screamed like a little girl, and Rose started laughing while we were sprawled out on our backs in the white powder.

She turned to me, with a smile on her face, and I yelled down to Edward and Bella. "Hey, someone bring out sled up here to us, k?"

The wind took away Bella's words, but I was sure she had heard my request. The sun was bright and shining, but it wasn't warm. It glistened off Rose's hair when I looked at her.

"Emmett?" she said. "Would you like to go to the Snow Ball dance with me?"

"I'd be honored to, Rose," I replied honestly. Oh, how she smiled right then. I didn't know why, but it made her happy that I had said yes to her question. If she had only known how excited I was that she had asked me in the first place.

The others were climbing up the hill and getting near to us. Rose and I got up and dusted the snow from ourselves. I could tell by the look on Edward's face that he was having a ball even though it looked like he was freezing. He really needed a better coat for the weather here in Washington and wondered if I should put a bug in Alice's ear about that. When we reached the top of the hill, Rose went over to Edward and dragged him a few feet away. Immediately I wondered what they were talking about, but then it dawned on me. She must have been telling him about asking me to the dance.

Now, I only had one small problem when it came to the dance and it was named Bella. For the last several years we had always gone together. I had someone to go with this year, but at this point, she didn't. Hoping that she wouldn't be left out, I silently wished that Bella would ask Edward and he'd say yes. I had a feeling it was going to take a miracle for that to happen.

We had gone back to Bella's and she was going to cook for us, but Charlie changed our plans. Bella stayed behind at her house, and the rest of us went for Chinese food. When we got to our fortune cookies, they were a little surreal. Edward's was about getting new clothes, and it made him question Alice if she had stuffed the cookie herself. Truthfully, I wouldn't put it past her. Alice's cookie read that her present plans were going to succeed. I tell you what, that was some pretty scary shit right there. Two for two with the fortune cookies. Jasper's fortune said something about having the abilities to read others. You know what, he kind of does.

What really got me was Rose's fortune and how she fidgeted in her seat as she read it aloud, "It's time you asked that someone special out on a date." Was I really that someone special that the fortune had mentioned?

_What a rush  
'Cause the possibility  
That you would ever feel the same way  
About me  
It's just too much  
Just too much_

That song, the one that was slowly driving me mad, was playing in the background. I don't know why I didn't hear it before. Between the song and Rose's fortune, I was barely able to think coherently enough to read mine, which was more of a statement than anything. No matter, the slip of paper out of the stupid cookie read, "You lead a useful life no matter what riches are coming to you."

Damn, I was ready to get the hell out of that restaurant and their freaky, spooky almost spot-on fortune cookies. Not to mention their bad selection of music from David Artichoke.

That night was a turning point of sorts for Edward. His fears of leaving Forks became stronger than ever before. When I dropped him off I was waiting until he got into the house. He was standing by the front door, and he suddenly jumped over the railing, headed over to the side of the house, and disappeared.

"Emmett, where'd Eddie go?" Alice asked with concern.

"I don't know," I told her. "If he doesn't come back in a minute, I'm going to look for him." We sat and waited, but Edward never came back around to the front of the house. He never mentioned using a back door. Something felt wrong since he went to the front door, paused, and then jumped over the railing. I just didn't know what was wrong. "Alice, I'm going to search for Edward, stay here, k?"

Thankfully, Alice didn't argue with me for once.

"Edward?" I whispered. It was dark and I couldn't see a damn thing as I rounded the corner of the house and came in direct contact with a metal garbage can. So much for my attempt at being quiet. A flood light from a neighbor's house flashed on and shined enough to light up the entire block. "Son of a bitch," I muttered. First I couldn't see because it was so dark, now I was fuckin' blinded by the light.

"Be quiet, you big oaf," I heard Edward whisper.

Moving forward, I spotted Edward on the ground. "What's going on? Why didn't you go inside?" Then I heard it—the raised voice of his father through the thin walls of the house. "Uh oh, are your parents fighting?"

Edward looked at me, and I could tell that he had been crying. Oh, I don't do well with crying chicks so I wasn't sure how I was going to do with a crying guy. "Yeah, I don't know what's wrong. I've never heard them fight before."

He had no idea what they had been fighting about but was concerned that it somehow centered on him. Edward told me that he had heard his father say three words—"Edward", "Cullens" and "leave" before I came around to the side of the house. I don't know what my family would have done to make his father want to leave Forks. Did I do something wrong?

"Do your parents not like you spending time with us? Maybe they don't like me, but I don't know why. I didn't think I was that much of a smart ass to your mom. I'm sorry if I was," I said.

"I don't know, Emmett. Maybe they think I'm spending too much time away from home? Mom never told me that she thought you were rude or anything. They seemed to be happy that I had friends here." Edward made a lame attempt to hide his face with his hands. I'm not sure why because I had already seen the tears falling down his cheeks.

"Come on, let's go back to the Jeep," I said. "Let's get you warmed up."

As we neared the Jeep I could see that Alice was sitting in the front seat. I put a finger to my lips and shook my head at her, hoping she'd understand what I meant. Alice jumped into the back seat to make room once again for Edward in the front.

I was thinking of what we should do when it hit me. We needed to call Edward's parents to let them know that he was going to be home soon. But why would we call to announce that? We were running late and we might be late for his curfew! The phone call would warn his parents, though, and let them calm down before Edward went inside. He thought it was a good idea, so he used my cell to call the house. We sat in the Jeep and waited until it was a few minutes past ten o'clock. I waited, again, until Edward got into the house before I left.

Alice crawled back into the front passenger seat. "Thanks, sis, for keeping your mouth shut back then."

"What's going on with Eddie?" Alice asked while buckling her seat belt. I hesitated, unsure if I should tell her or not. "Spill the beans or I'll beat it out of you."

"I'd like to see you try," I laughed.

"Emmett, come on, tell me what happened! Why was Edward so upset? It looked like he was crying."

"He was," I sighed. "His parents were fighting and I even heard 'em."

"Oh, that sucks."

"Edward… he was upset because he's never heard them fight before," I explained. "Don't go broadcasting this to everyone else, okay?"

"Dear brother, don't insult me," Alice mocked me. "I know when I need to keep my mouth shut."

Alice took her iPod out of her pocket and plugged the adaptor into the Jeep.

_I hung up the phone tonight  
Something happened for the first time  
Deep inside  
It was a rush_

Artichoke continued to haunt me. "Oh, for the love of God, Alice, turn that crap off!"

Alice stared at me. "What? I like this song."

"I'm going to crush your damn iPod if you don't unplug it from my baby."

I sighed with relief when Artichoke stopped singing.

The next day in English I had to kick Edward's chair to get him to pay attention. He even answered a question wrong, which was very unlike him. In Photography, I tried to ask him how he was doing. He mumbled something incoherently and waved his hand at me.

At lunch he was mopey and non-talkative. Being around him was starting to be downright depressing. I mean, I wanted to slit my wrists. I elbowed him in the ribs to get his attention. "Edward, I've been thinking. Instead of walking around for the rest of your time in Forks like a zombie, why don't you make the most out of it? Don't close yourself off to us and act like you're not here before you're gone."

He sat for a minute, and I hoped the gears in his head were working overtime to process the words I had just said. I thought it was pretty damn good advice.

"Damn, you're smarter than you look, Emmett," he grinned at me. "I'm sorry if I've been acting out of sorts today."

Okay, what was it with people thinking I looked dumb? While I wasn't going to be invited to join Mensa any time soon, I wasn't dumb. Far from it in fact, even though school didn't come easy for me. I had to work for my good grades. My pride was shot to hell when I had to ask Edward for help with my calculus homework a few nights ago. He was a whiz in Math—and every other subject it seemed—but it was my absolute worst. I was always secretly annoyed that everything seemed to so easily click for him and Bella when I had to work twice as hard.

I turned my attention to Bella and asked her what she was doing this weekend. In all the excitement of Edward passing his road test, I had forgotten to tell him about our annual ski trip. If he wanted to, he could have gone with us, but I knew he wouldn't accept our offer. Even when Alice invited him, he turned her down. Bella was making a trip to Aberdeen to go to Wal-Mart, and Edward's eyes lit up brighter than fireworks on the fourth of July. Those two and their Wal-Mart love. They were truly made for one another.

That afternoon I dropped Edward off at the Thriftway for a shift. I noticed the beat up station wagon that belonged to his family in the parking lot. Walking inside, I spotted Edward's mother at a register. I grabbed a soda from one of the cases up front and waited on her line. After she bagged the groceries of the customer ahead of me, she turned around and recognized me.

"Hello, Emmett, thanks so much for bringing Edward to work."

"It's no problem at all, Mrs. Masen," I said. Passing over the soda to her, I reached for my wallet and grabbed some money out of it. "I wanted to apologize for our behavior the last time we saw you here. I hope you know that we didn't mean any disrespect by how we referred to you."

"Oh, Emmett, don't be silly," she said, handing me a needless receipt. "You called me Ma like Edward does. You didn't call me a, um, witch or anything you know."

"All the same ma'am, I wanted to apologize."

She laughed. "Emmett, I'd rather have you call me Ma than ma'am."

"Okay, Mrs. Masen, I'll remember that."

I left the store unsure if my little talk with Edward's mother would do any good or not. If his parents had a problem with me or my family, I wanted to fix it.

The weekend at the ski cabin was a mixture of emotions from one end of the spectrum to the other. I took my Jeep because I always enjoyed the long drive into the mountains. We left late Friday afternoon after school, and that night everything was fine and copasetic. My parents always rented this huge ass house that was styled like a log cabin. I always loved the look and feel of it. The cabin comfortably fit all of us with plenty of room to spare. My mom made dinner and we sat around having a great time.

Things continued to go well during the day on Saturday. Rose, Jasper, Alice, and I had been out skiing earlier. It was later on in the afternoon when the shit started to hit the fan. And then it hit it hard.

* * *

**A/N:** I wanted to thank everyone for their wonderful words and reviews. To the girls over in the _Legacy_ thread at Twilighted who constantly keep me up beat-I love you's! Come on over and visit us! The link is in my profile. I usually give out teasers over there to keep everyone interested and eager.

I always imagined Emmett's POV for a chapter after Edward found out what happened. What I didn't plan on was for it to go on for so long. I didn't realize that his recap chapter would be placed at 15 and he'd get so wordy about shit. Chapter 16 will also be from Emmett's POV and I think by Chapter 17 I'll be back to Edward's POV, but no promises. There could be a third Emmett chapter. This is mostly due to Twilighted. There is a word limit to each chapter there. I do not want to post one huge 40+ page chapter at ff[dot]net and three smaller ones at Twilighted. It would screw up stuff and I want to keep the chapters the same in both places.

I was really worried and nervous about this chapter because of the POV switch. I hope I managed to write my Emmett as Emmett and not as Edward. They are two different characters and I wanted to keep them that way. I wanted to show that Edward may have a bit of a "hero worship" deal going on with Emmett. Edward looks up to Emmett, but Emmett doesn't always do or say what's right.

I am also starting _Legacy: Extras & Outtakes_ with the next chapter. It will contain things that fit into my Legacy-verse but don't quite fit in the main story because they would make the chapter too long, or they are from another POV, etc, so be on the look out for that!

For those of you that mentioned it to me, Emmett will be straightening Edward out about his, um, fear and misconception of Mormons and Utah. It will happen, but it just didn't fit into this chapter like I thought it was going to. It'll probably be in 16 or 17, depending on how things go.


	16. Changes

**A/N:** Many of you commented that the last chapter was a bit redundant and repetitive. I think this chapter, still from Emmett's POV, offers more new information. Emmett's POV will continue into Chapter 17 because of word limitations at Twilighted.

Thanks Birdee!

**DISCLAIMER:** I don't own Twilight or Dawn. I'm not Stephenie Meyer or VC Andrews.

* * *

**Chapter 16: Changes**

An unexpected storm rolled in and had created blizzard-like conditions. Having gotten fair enough warning, we got off the slopes and back to the safety of the cabin before any snow fell. Jasper and Alice were hanging out at the Lodge, and if they had to, planned to stay there until the storm cleared. Rose and I watched a movie downstairs, and when it was over, Rose went upstairs. Mom and Dad were in the kitchen futzing around doing what ever it is adults do in a kitchen. Mr. and Mrs. Hale and Rachel were upstairs doing what the hell ever they were doing. I knew Rose didn't get along with her parents, but whatever happened upstairs was the straw the broke the camel's back. Or, more accurately, pushed Rose over the edge.

I heard the screaming first. It was loud and was not only coming from Rose but her parents too. It wasn't normal screaming, it was loud, angry screaming. The door to one of the rooms opened up and I heard Rose's voice more clearly.

"Why? Why do you always take her side? I'm sorry, but I don't want to be like you!"

"Rose!" her father yelled. "Apologize to your mother, right now!"

"Apologize? For what? Not letting her mold me into her image? No! No, I will not!"

Rose ran down the stairs, through the living room, and headed to the door. She ran right outside—without grabbing her coat. Glancing out the window, I saw that snow was still falling outside. I got up, ran toward the door, and flung it open.

"Emmett! Take your coats, son!" my father said loud enough to get my attention. Spinning around, I grabbed my coat and quickly slid it on. "Don't go too far or you'll lose your bearing in the storm. If you're not back in ten minutes, I'm coming out after you."

I grabbed Rose's coat off the nearby hook and responded as I was half way out the door. "Got it!"

Crap, Rose had to run out in the middle of a storm. I could barely see her through the heavy snow fall. The snow was high, and I felt like I was running over hurdles as I made my way toward her. I don't know how the hell she had gotten away from the house so fast. Rose stopped at a grouping of evergreen trees, leaning against one of them as she attempted to catch her breath.

"Damn it, Emmett, why are you following me?"

"I figured if someone had to chase you out into the middle of a snow storm, why not me?"

Rose tried to turn around quickly but the snow was too deep, and I caught her before she landed in the white powder below us. Handing her coat over, I quickly zipped up my own, reached into the pockets and pulled on my gloves.

Rose zipped up her coat and wrapped her arms around herself. I wished I could wrap my arms around her instead. "Rose, can we go inside? If you haven't noticed, it's freezing out here."

"Go ahead, I'm not stopping you."

"I'm not going without you," I replied. "I'm not searching for a Rosie-sicle tomorrow."

"I could freeze to death out here and you'd care more than my parents."

I glanced back at the house and could barely see it through the snowfall, but I knew Rose wasn't ready to go back inside and face her parents. "What happened with your parents?"

"Some people shouldn't be allowed to breed," she spat angrily. "My parents have always wanted things for Jasper and me that we don't want. Do you know that my mother's dream for me was to follow in her footsteps and be a beauty queen? When I was younger I was in a bunch of pageants, but they bored me and I hated them. I had to do stupid things on purpose so that I wouldn't win. I messed up intentionally so I could get the fuck out of where ever we were. What five year old needs to have a mess of make up on their face? Mom never, ever let me forget that I let her down."

I thought she was finished, but she only paused to catch her breath. "You know what she really hates? While I love make up and clothes just as much as Alice, Mom absolutely _hates_ it that I'd rather be under the hood of my car fixing something rather than to take it to a mechanic. You know when we were at my house, giving the BMW a tune up last month? She detested that so much, even though we cleaned up our mess."

I vaguely remembered Rose participating in pageants when she was younger. Those memories were so distant and hazy. It was those times that we worked on cars together that I really enjoyed. I liked that about Rose. She could get all dressed up and be glamorous, but she wasn't afraid to pull on a pair of overalls and get dirty. "What about Jasper? How does he fit into all of this?"

"Dad wanted him to be a lawyer like him, but Jazz has never felt the urge to go that way," she sniffed. "For some reason, they pick on me more for my so-called mistakes and failures. And now that she has Rachel, the daughter that she has been able to clone after herself, she couldn't give two shits about me. They hardly pay any attention to Jasper either."

"I'm sorry, Rose. You never told me any of this." I heard a car start in the distance, and at the same time, wondered if our ten minutes were up. "We really need to go back to the house."

"I'm not ready to yet. I can't face them right now."

"Rose, babe, freezing off one of your beautiful body parts ain't going to impress your parents."

"You're always saving me," she said, her gaze fixed on the snow covered ground. "You've been saving me since I was thirteen. You must be sick of it by now."

Reaching out, I tilted her chin up with my gloved fingers. "Nope. Never. I'll be your white knight in shining armor as long as you need me." Her bare fingers reached up and met mine. "Rose, where's your gloves?"

"Not in my coat pockets, that's for damn sure," she said, rubbing her hands together.

Stepping closer to Rose, I took her hands, placed them against my chest, and rubbed them gently. "My dad gave me ten minutes to get you back into the house," I informed her. "Then he was coming out searching for us."

I took another step toward her until there was no space between us. I quickly picked Rose up and hauled her over my shoulder like a sack of potatoes. As expected, she started kicking, hitting, and screaming at me. "I'm sorry, Rosie! Hell, we can sit in my Jeep for all I care, but we need to get closer to the house."

"Emmett! No! Let me go! Get off of me! No!" she cried. Her words echoed in my memory and back to the pool house. I had to shake it off and get her inside some place warm.

"Emmett! Rosalie!" I heard my father's voice in the distance. "Are you out there?"

"We're on our way!" I yelled. My warm breath mingled with the cool air and every time I exhaled, it looked like I was smoking.

I slowly trudged through the snow, trying to keep my eye on the house. The snow was beating against my face and in my eyes, making it difficult to see. My exposed skin was stinging due to the cold while Rose was still kicking and slapping the back of my legs in contempt.

"Rosie, please, I'm not wearing a cup," I said.

"Good!" She attempted to kick me in the groin, but I blocked her foot from making contact. I could see the house and my father standing outside on the porch. Waving to him, I watched as he stepped back inside. I walked up the steps and then placed Rose down on the porch as gently as possible.

"Don't ever do that again, Damien! I said no, damn it!" Her hand came forward to smack me, but I saw it coming and ducked.

"Rosie!" I cupped her face with both my hands. "It's me, Emmett, baby, it's me."

Blinking rapidly, a gasp escaped from her lips. She shook her head back and forth, and the tears escaped and fell freely down her cheeks. "I'm sorry, Emmett, I'm so sorry."

She threw herself against me, and I wrapped my arms around her. "I'd never hurt you on purpose, Rose, always remember that. I'd never hurt you."

"I know," her voice was muffled against my coat. "You've always been my hero."

Some big damn hero I was. I didn't know what the hell to do with the crying woman that had latched herself onto me. We stood there, Rose locked in my arms, freezing our collective asses off. The door to the house opened, and my father stepped out. "Please come in kids, it's much too cold for you to be out here."

"I can't face them," Rose stated.

"Your parents left, Rose," Dad said. "They took Rachel and left while you two were out in the storm."

"They got up and left in this weather?" I asked.

Dad shrugged his shoulders. "I didn't think it was the wisest thing to do either. They wouldn't listen to me when I told them that they should stay. Come on inside now."

Dad opened the door wider for us to enter. Rose looked up at me and I nodded. "Let's get warmed up."

She silently detached herself from me, and we made our way inside. The immediate warmth of the house hit me and made me realize how cold it really was outside. We took off our coats and sat by the fire, rubbing our hands together in front of it. Dad was in doctor mode and made sure that we were both okay. Mom brought over hot chocolate for us, and then my parents excused themselves to the den.

Gripping the mug with both hands, Rose continued to stare at the fire. "I'm sorry about what happened outside. I know you're not Damien."

I put my mug down on the table beside me and ran my fingers through my hair nervously. "I didn't know that stuff… still popped up for you."

"At the most inappropriate times, as you can tell." Rose met my eyes. "I'm sorry."

"I should be the one apologizing," I said. "It's no wonder you flashed back to that. I treated you roughly and made you do something that you didn't want to."

"You were, once again, trying to save me."

"Your white knight, remember?"

Rose smiled but remained silent. She took a sip of her hot chocolate and then placed it down on the end table next to her.

_Why do I keep running from the truth  
All I ever think about is you  
You got me hypnotized  
So mesmerized  
And I've just got to know_

Oh fuck, who the hell had left the radio on? Artichoke boy picked a fine time to haunt me! Where the hell was the radio in this room? I had to find it and shut the blasted thing off.

"Sooner or later you'll have to stop saving me," she said and cleared her throat. Rose got up from the couch and stood in front of me. "You can't be my white knight forever. You'll find someone else to save."

I reached out and took her hand in mine, gently tugging, and brought her down onto my lap. "Nope. Never."

_Do you ever think  
When you're all alone  
All that we could be  
Where this thing could go  
Am I crazy or falling in love  
Is it real or just another crush_

Biting her bottom lip, Rose gazed at me and squeezed my hand. My thoughts were cloudy, and I tried to think of something to say that would make sense. Rose looked away so I could only see her profile and tried to get up, but I held onto her hand.

"Please, don't go, you belong here."

Squeezing her eyes shut, she swallowed hard before turning to face me. "Emmett, please."

"I said that I'd never hurt you, remember?"

"I do," she said smiling.

_See it's a chance we've gotta take  
'Cause I believe that we can make this  
Into something that'll last_

"Rose, would you be my girl?"

"Be your girl?" she smirked. "Are you serious?"

"I thought it sounded nicer than asking you to be my bitch, you know," I said. She laughed for the first time in a few hours. "And yes, I'm serious. Would you be my girl?"

"I so do not deserve you, Emmett."

Wrapping my arms around her waist, I brought her closer. She raised her hand to my face and caressed it with her thumb. "Actually, you deserve a whole hell of a lot better than me."

"There's no one better for me than you," she said softly. Leaning into me, her lips grazed my forehead and… it was amazing. I can't accurately describe the feeling that shot through me and her lips hadn't even met mine. Her lips moved slowly down the side of my face, hovering over my skin, teasing me.

_Why do I keep running from the truth  
All I ever think about is you_

_You got me hypnotized  
So mesmerized  
And I've just got to know_

I turned slightly, found her lips, and captured them with mine. I never knew a kiss could be like that. It was somehow light and exhilarating at the same time.

"Emmett?"

"Mmm?" I opened my eyes to find her cobalt ones looking back at me.

"Yes, Emmett," she said. "Yes, I'll be your girl."

"You won't regret it."

"I know."

I silently thanked David Ar… Art… Arcl... David Artichoke where ever he may be.

We sat in front of the fire in silence, Rose sitting sideways on my lap and her head on my shoulder for several minutes. My hand was on her thigh but I wasn't getting fresh with her. You know, at a moment like this, it wasn't proper. I was trying to be a gentleman!

The silence was shattered by the noisy footsteps on the front porch. Faintly, I heard Jasper and Alice's voices outside and then their feet stomping on the floorboards. It was still snowing, so how the hell did they get back to the cabin? Rose must have read my mind because she got up and headed toward the door, and I followed closely behind her. She flung open the door and ushered Jasper and Alice inside. In the distance, I saw a snowmobile heading off in the opposite direction.

"Rose, are you okay?" Jasper asked. He quickly took off his coat and boots, tossing them near the doorway.

"I'm fine, Jazz. How'd you two get back here? I thought you were staying at the Lodge until the storm passed."

"Snowmobile!" Alice offered, still struggling with removing her coat. She had first arranged Jasper's things when he had flung them off haphazardly. "It was fun."

"Mom and Dad stopped at the Lodge with Rachel," Jasper said. "They told me they were leaving and that if I wanted to be a _good son_ that I needed to go with them right then and there. I asked them where you were and well… never mind. I'm not going to go there."

Alice came up beside Jasper and put tiny her arm around his waist. "I can't believe they just abandoned you two."

"I got into it again with them and ran out," Rose explained. "Emmett ended up chasing me out into the snow storm."

Jasper turned to me with a smile. "Thanks, Emm, I appreciate you lookin' out for Rose like that."

I put my arm around Rose's shoulders and rested my hand on her upper arm. "No problem, man. You take care of Alice all the time."

One of Alice's eyebrows was raised like The Rock and her eyes flashed back and forth between the two of us. "I sense a change in Casa de Cullen."

Rose reached up and touched my hand that was still on her arm and Jasper grinned. "Doesn't take a psychic to see that one, Alice," he said. "It's about damn time you two stopped dancing around one another."

I was slightly uncomfortable with all the attention on my new status with Rose. It happened only minutes earlier, and I didn't want to say anything to screw it up and make her change her mind. "Um, how'd you find someone to bring you two back here in the middle of a storm?"

"We asked around," Alice explained. "We told anyone who would listen that we needed to get back to our cabin and asked if they could help us. Some guy name Junior agreed to drive us back here on his snowmobile after we paid twenty bucks toward his bar tab and here we are."

"Jazz, what are we going to do when we get back home?" Rose asked. "They're pissed at me because of our fight. Now, they're going to be pissed at you for sticking by me."

"Screw 'em," Jasper said. "We weren't blessed in the parental lottery like Emmett and Alice."

I felt Alice's eyes boring into me. "What?" She shook her head in my direction. "You're the one who can sweet talk Dad into practically anything! They're in the den, for your info."

"You're coming with me," Alice said. Roughly grabbing my hand, she attempted to drag me through the living room and to the door of the den. Once my parents granted us admittance, my stomach rumbled nervously.

The conversation with the parental units went better than expected. I stood behind Alice, mostly keeping my mouth shut. I found that it helped more when I did that. Otherwise, my foot landed in my mouth one too many times. Alice calmly explained what happened and how Rose and Jasper felt about their parents at this time. Alice was a better overall conversationalist. And she was very convincing when she needed to be.

Having known Rose and Jasper all their lives, Mom and Dad agreed that if they needed to stay with us, they could. We talked about some other things, but because of their nature, I think I temporarily blocked them out since they were very traumatic. It all had to do with Rose and me, Alice and Jasper, and um, yeah… I'm not going there or I'll end up in a fetal position on the floor sucking my thumb. Or a mental unit in a straight jacket. It's up for a coin toss at this point.

Mom talked to Rose and assured her that in the end, everything would be fine. Humph, so could Mom see the future too? I wasn't sure how this was all going to work out, but I had high hopes it would.

That night, I think between all the skiing I had done earlier and chasing after Rose, my body wanted a much needed break. My bed was calling my name. I took a shower and had changed into a pair of pajama bottoms. I never wore the tops because they never quite fit right and the buttons popped off when I stretched. There was a drawer full of never worn tops in my dresser at home. I had pulled back the covers, about to crawl into bed, when I barely heard the knock on the door. At first I thought I was hearing things, but then I heard it again. I made my way across the room and cautiously opened the door. Rose was standing in front of me wearing a matching blue tank top and shorts. I wondered what she'd look like wearing one of my pajama tops and a pair of her underwear.

"Emmett, can…" she nervously cleared her throat. Her eyes were fixed on the floor. "Could I stay with you tonight?"

Without a word, I took her hand and led her into my room and closed the door. I got into the bed first and lay on my side. Holding the covers up for her, Rose slowly lay down facing me. Letting the covers fall over us, I reached out for her and shifted her next to me. It felt only natural to run my hand up and down her back, comforting her. Rose's head was tucked beneath my chin, and I could feel her slightly chilly hands balled against my chest. I wished she would let her guard down and relax around me more.

I had hoped she would have known that I wasn't going to try to get fresh with her. It was much too soon, even if I had a crush on her for two years. I leaned down and placed a light kiss on her exposed temple. She shivered, so I brought the covers up around us more in an effort to keep her warm.

"Do that again?" she asked.

"What?" If I pulled the covers up any farther, they'd be over her head.

Rose smiled at me. "Kiss me again like you just did."

Instinctively, I reached out and cupped her cheek with my hand when I brought my lips back down to her temple. I thought I felt her shiver again under my touch.

"Are you okay, Rosie?"

"Never been better," she whispered and closed her eyes.

Great, I was going to make her sick because she got the chills at my touch. I felt her snuggle in closer to me with her open palms against my chest, and I smiled to myself. Maybe she could learn to trust me after all.

The next day we attempted to do some skiing before we left to head back to Forks, but I could tell that both Rose and Jasper's minds weren't on having fun. Alice sensed it too, so we headed back to the cabin and started packing earlier than we really needed to. Since we'd be going back with not only more people but luggage, I agreed to take Jasper's stuff in my Jeep. Rose went with me while everyone else piled into Mom's Escape Hybrid.

"Rose, I've always wondered, why did you take a liking to Edward?" I asked. "You hardly ever take a liking to anyone."

"Mostly because of Alice," she admitted with a shrug. "She told me that she knew he was okay."

"You finally decided to believe her, huh?"

"I have to admit, the little critter is correct quite a bit." I laughed at Rose calling Alice a little critter. "But don't tell her I said that!"

"That she's right or that you called her a little critter?"

"Both!" she said. "And actually, I'm glad I let my guard down and got to know Edward. He was the one that convinced me to ask you to the dance."

"I thought you two talked about me behind my back."

"Yeah, we did. Edward encouraged me with you, and I realized he's a great guy."

"You know, it's weird," I started. "I don't know why, but for some reason, a lot of times I feel closer to Edward than I do Jasper. I've known Jazz all my life where I've known Edward for only a few months. I don't know, but it's like we get each other."

"Emmett, it sounds like you have a crush on Edward."

I smiled but kept my eyes on the road. "The only person I have a crush on is the beautiful lady sitting in the passenger seat of my Jeep."

"You great big ol' sappy lug, you."

"Oh, shush." I took her hand in mine and pressed a kiss into it quickly before returning my hand to the steering wheel. "Do you want me to take you to my house? Or do you want me to drop you off at your place?"

"You might as well drop me off at my parents," she said. "I need to get a bunch of stuff. I need to get my car, if they didn't have it towed away or something."

"Is your car in your name? What about the insurance?" I asked.

"The BMW is in my name, but the insurance is under a policy with my parents."

"I'll talk to my father," I told her. "The insurance could become an issue." Rose's parents would be the type to drop her car insurance and not tell her. "I want to check in with Bella real quick, is that okay with you?"

When we reached the outskirts of town, Rose called my father to tell him that we were stopping by Bella's. I pulled into the driveway and noted that her pickup truck was there, but her father's police cruiser wasn't. The house was dark except for a faint light in Bella's bedroom.

Knocking on the front door, I didn't hear anything coming from the house. Bella wouldn't have left her bedroom light on if she had gone out, rather, she'd leave a light downstairs on. "It's Emmett, are you home?" I shouted stupidly at the house.

"I'm not in the mood to talk." I could barely hear her voice through the door.

"Is something wrong? Is Edward here? If he is and you're doing stuff, let me know and I'll leave!" The last thing I wanted for one of them to do was to answer the door half dressed.

The door flew open before I could finish. Bella's face looked as if she had been crying. No, no, I wasn't sure if I could handle two crying females in one weekend. "Edward is _not_ here," she spat at me.

"What the hell happened?" I asked.

Bella ran a hand through her hair and held her forehead in her palm. "I'm such an idiot. He rejected me. I should've known better."

"I'm sorry, Bella, but Edward-"

"Don't you dare say his name and stick up for him right now!"

I wasn't going to stick up for him. I wanted to explain Edward's fear of moving and getting close to someone, especially Bella, but she slammed the door in my face. Marching back to the Jeep, I knew my brow was furrowed in frustration.

"I gotta go to Edward's," I announced.

"What happened? You're upset and from what I could see of Bella, she didn't look too damn happy either."

"Edward happened." I backed out of Bella's driveway and headed to Rose's house.

"Uh oh. What'd he do?"

"I don't know, but I'm gonna pummel him if he hurt her on purpose," I said. "I'm gonna drop you off first, if that's okay with you, babe."

"That's fine. I need get in and out of that house as soon as possible. If my parents are home, you'd probably get into a fight with them defending me."

"You know me too well."

When I pulled up in front of Rose's house, she offered a bit of advice. "Emmett, don't immediately go all Riglitori on Edward. Remember, this is Edward we're talking about. Bella has been flirting mercilessly with him for several weeks. I don't think he'd hurt her on purpose. Find out his side of the story too."

It was a great piece of advice that I kept repeating to myself. My cell rang and I knew it was Alice by the ring tone. When I answered, my sister was her usual exuberant self.

"Emmett, pick me up at home."

"Why? I need to go to Edward's first."

"I _know that_," she said. "Swing by here and pick me up."

I didn't know why she wanted me to pick her up—she stayed in the Jeep when we got to Edward's house. She didn't even try to torture me with that David Artichoke song on the drive over. When I reached Edward's front door, I pounded on it and immediately regretted it. It was almost eight o'clock at night, and I was unsure how his parents would take my arrival. I didn't think this through, and now this qualified as another stupid Emmett moment.

His father answered the door. "Hello, Emmett. Edward said you were away this weekend. How was your trip?"

"Hello, yes, sir, we went skiing and had a fine time," I said, sounding like an idiot. I always sounded that way when I was trying to be polite because I overdid it. "Would it be okay if I spoke with Edward? It's really important."

"Sure, that's not a problem." He pointed me to the hallway past the kitchen. "He's in his room, second door on the left."

I mumbled a hello at Mrs. Masen as I passed the kitchen. When I got to Edward's door, I didn't even have to knock before I heard his voice inviting me in from the other side.

I opened his door a little too hard and closed it that way too. "What happened today?" I asked angrily. "I stopped by Bella's on the way home, and she was all upset. She was mumbling something about you and rejection. What the fuck, Edward?"

He sank back into the mattress on the floor. "Shit," he said.

Then I realized that Edward didn't even have a proper bed. "Man, no bed?"

"You're looking at it." He pointed to the mattress he was laying on. "It's nothing glamorous."

"And no dresser?"

He pointed to one of those big Rubbermaid containers that happened to be in the corner. "I easily improvise."

A prisoner had more possessions in his cell than Edward had in his room. I shrugged my shoulders and shook my head, wondering if we had an extra bed frame or furniture hanging around the house somewhere. No wonder Edward never took anything for granted; he didn't have a damn thing. "Okay, back to Bella now. What the hell happened this weekend between the two of you?"

"I'll give you the short version and you can let me know if you want more details," he said. He went on to tell me his little recap version, and I winced when he told Bella that he liked her 'just fine.' You do not tell a girl that you like her 'just fine' if you want to live, keep your balls, and maybe get some nookie.

"You're a fucking moron."

"Tell me something I don't know."

"You're a sarcastic fucking moron who's very lucky that I haven't kicked his ass so far."

"Yeah, I'm a lucky, sarcastic, fucking moron who made the girl he likes cry," he said. "Whoo. Go me."

I took a step toward him and was actually trying my damnedest not to laugh at his words. "It's not too late for that ass kicking."

"I deserve it. You're just looking out for Bella."

Edward changed positions and sat with his back against the wall. I went and sat down on the end of the mattress on the floor. "Bella is like a sister to me. You're like a brother to me. Oh, shit, my brother made my sister cry because they kissed." Edward didn't seem to notice how stupid I sounded. "This is worse than a fucking soap opera. I can tell this is going to give me a headache, but gimme the long version, please."

He then went on to explain everything to me. Every little freakin' detail from when Bella picked him up to when she dropped him off. When he told me about Charlie sniffing his hands—bwhahahaha—after he caught them in Bella's room, I was laughing on the inside. Did Charlie even realize that if the two of them had been fooling around, that he would've smelled his own daughter on Edward's hands?

Ew ew ew!! How the hell gross was that?

Edward's long, drawn-out story gave me a headache. I was rubbing my temples, seeking any type of relief, by the time he was through.

"Christ," I muttered. "I reiterate that you are a fucking moron."

"I-"

"Shut up and let me think." I cut him off so I could try to think.

I lay back across the mattress with both hands over my face. "Pain in the ass teenagers," I muttered. Did I really have any room to talk? Edward was worried about moving away, but he had gone ahead and made friends with us. Why was he afraid of getting any deeper involved with Bella?

Sitting up, I looked at Edward. "Do you honestly really like Bella and would like to be with her more than just a friend?"

"Yes."

"Then live in the moment," I said. Oh, damn, how the hell stupid did I just sound? "Don't think about what's going to happen in your immediate future. Don't think about moving. To quote Nike, 'Just Do It,' Edward. Live in the moment man, that's all I can say."

I felt like asking him if he had a dunce cap so I could go and sit in the corner. But you know, who the hell did he think I was? Dear Abby? If you ask me, I ain't all that great with this advice shit.

"I'm scared to," he said.

"Stop being a damn pussy and go after the girl."

"But-"

"So you may not live forever happily ever after with Bella because your family moves so much," I said. "Life isn't a damn fairy tale. Would you rather let Bella think that you weren't attracted to her? That you didn't like her? That something was wrong with her? She blames herself for this mess, I know she does. That's how Bella is. Tell Bella _why_ you pushed her away. If she still wants to be with you, for whatever amount of time you have left here, then go for it. I repeat my earlier theory, live in the moment."

Oh, holy hell, it seemed as if I had diarrhea of the mouth now. More and more shit just kept spilling out of it.

"You're way smarter than you look."

What the hell? "I get that a lot. Do I look like a fucking retard or something? And I hereby reserve the right to serve you with an ass kicking at a later date," I warned him.

"I will certainly remember that, bro." I think I startled him when I raised my fist in the air toward him, but it wasn't to punch him. Not right then at least. He formed a fist with one of his hands and banged it against mine. "Thanks, Emmett."

"Brothers help each other out."

When I told him that Alice was waiting in the Jeep for me, he was all concerned for her well being. Like I'd leave my baby sister in a freezing cold vehicle? Edward asked me what happened with Rose, and I kind of skirted the issue, and later I realized I also made it out to be much bigger than it had been. The kid saw more action than I did this weekend, that much I knew for sure. Girl wise anyway.

Edward followed me outside to say hello to Alice. Once she saw him, she jumped out of the Jeep and embraced him into a hug.

"Are you going to go ahead and live in the moment?" she asked. Did she have her ear up against Edward's bedroom wall or something?

This all led to Alice having to explain her little talent to Edward. "Alice is anything but normal," I said with a sly smile.

"You're lucky I'm not a witch. I'd curse you with an insanely small dick," she said.

It'd be a lie if I told you I never heard that threat before.

"Edward, everything will be okay with you and Bella," Alice said tapping the side of her head. "I know it."

"If you say so, Midg." Edward didn't seem entirely convinced.

Alice took a step forward and hugged him. "I do, and so it will be." Alice didn't seem to realize that it wasn't that easy. I wished that she could tell Edward what to do and say to Bella in order for this to all work out.

The next day during lunch Edward suddenly grew a pair of balls and went after Bella. I had arrived to lunch late (I know, what the hell was wrong with me that day?) so I missed the beginning of the action. Alice and Jasper were sitting at our table when Rose and I arrived. Jasper told us that Bella was upset, had left, and Edward followed after her. Alice than went on to say that Staysa had better stop sniffing Jasper or she was going to get a skunk and have it spray him. "We'll see how much she likes sniffing my man then!"

Jasper was stunned and flabbergasted, unable to speak a full sentence, at least in English. I didn't know that Jasper knew any foreign languages. Whatever he was saying, it sounded like a bunch of gibberish. It reminded me of a scene from _The_ _Exorcist_ and I was waiting for Jasper to start spitting out split pea soup and for his head to start spinning all the way around. Alice gazed lovingly at him, "I see things you don't, remember that, honey."

Edward and Bella walked back into the cafeteria holding hands. Bella looked much happier, and we even had to move our chairs around so that they could sit next to each other. Oh, young love, ain't it grand?

I dropped Edward off at the Thriftway for a shift. When I picked him up, he told me how he went up to Bella and rejected Mike's advances at her. I laughed and high-fived him because I found it hilarious. We all headed to my room and watched a movie. I noticed we were all paired off—Alice and Jasper on the floor, Edward and Bella on one couch while Rose cuddled up against me on the other.

That night I dropped Bella off first, and Edward walked her to the door. I should've known better than to have encouraged that. It was taking forever because they kept on kissing. I had to honk my horn and yell at him to hurry up.

Yes, my family did put together a basket for Edward's family at Thanksgiving. I made sure to ask Mom to put some extra stuff in their basket so they could use it after the holiday. I knew that he knew it was from us, but I wasn't going to confirm his suspicions. My father always works on Thanksgiving, so as far as I can remember, we've celebrated on that Friday. The usual suspects show up—Bella, Jasper, Rose and my uncle Tony, Aunt Jan, and my two cousins, Laura and Emily. Sometimes Charlie made it, but more often than not, he didn't.

I will never forget how my father yelled out, "A penis? A deformed penis?" while we were playing Pictionary. I was on the same team, and I can tell you right now, what Edward had drawn did not look like a penis. However, it sure as hell didn't look like the United States! It made me seriously question how much of a dirty mind my father truly had. Uh, don't want to go there, no sir.

I thought that Edward had been having fun. He was smiling and laughing so much that day. Damn it, it made me happy that he was so happy. I wasn't quite sure why the hell the situation made me feel that way.

That weekend we headed to Port Angeles to do some shopping for the dance. The girls needed to find dresses, and Edward needed a pair of shoes. Jasper and I basically tagged along because, honestly, what the hell else were we going to do? Once the girls picked up their dresses, Alice called Jasper so we could meet up.

"Okay, so what color is it?" I asked Rose.

"Alice said that I can't tell you." I looked over to my sister who stuck her tongue out at me. "I will tell you that I didn't go with the typical red."

"Would it happen to be one of those strapless dresses?" Go bare shoulders, go bare shoulders, go!

I think I actually saw Rose blush slightly. "No, I know you like to dance at these things, and a strapless dress would fall off of me with all that dancing."

"Like the male population of Forks High school would complain about that," I said and was surprised to feel Rose's fist meet my upper arm. Welcome to "Stupid Emmett Moment 5,108" for the year. "What? I'm just being honest!"

"Emmett," she said, grabbing onto my shirt and pulling me down to her level. "If anyone sees me without a dress on, it _might_ be you and not the entire population of the high school. Don't count on that happening after the Snow Ball, though."

"I see you in jeans all the time," I joked. "You look quite good in them too, might I add."

"You know what I _mean_," she said, kissing me quickly on the cheek and letting me go. "You're spending entirely too much time with Edward. His sarcasm is rubbing off on you."

"Thankfully, that's the only thing of his that's rubbing off on me."

The night of the dance snuck up on us quickly. Jasper and I were waiting for the girls to finish getting dressed when I realized I forgot my phone upstairs in my room on the charger. When I reached the landing on the second floor, I couldn't help but hear my parents, and they weren't happy.

"Carlisle." Mom spoke my father's name angrily. "You said this would be fixed by now!"

"It will be, honey. Everything will be fixed and back to the way it should have been all those years ago by the end of the night," Dad said. "I promise you that."

Great, now I knew how Edward felt when he heard his parents fought. Well, not exactly because my parents weren't as angry with each other. But I knew how uncomfortable it was to overhear them arguing. I had a knot in the pit of my stomach.

I backed halfway down the stairs and then yelled up. "Hey, Dad, where are the keys to the Mercedes?"

My mother, who had started to speak, went silent. I continued up the stairs and stopped in front of their bedroom door. "You said I could take the Mercedes tonight, right? We don't want the girls trying to climb up into the Jeep."

"Yes, that's very considerate of you to think of the girls," Mom said.

Dad walked over to his dresser and grabbed a set of keys off the top of it and handed them over to me. "I'll let you use the spare set for tonight."'

"Cool, thanks," I said. "We're still waiting for the girls. I'm gonna waste some time and pick up Edward."

"Sounds like a good plan to me," Mom said. "Your father and I are going out to dinner. Have a great time at the dance."

"No drinking," Dad said. "But for some reason, if you do, call me please. I'd rather have you call me drunk than to end up in an accident."

"Yes, Father," I told him. "I'm eighteen, how am I going to get liquor?"

Mom shook her head at me. "You kids have your ways. You look older than eighteen."

"Not my fault, you two made me that way," I said. "I gotta get my phone and then I'm off."

"We know you're off," Dad laughed.

"Hardy har har," I pretended to laugh. "You slay me, Father."

"No getting fresh with Rose under the bleachers," Mom warned me.

"Would I do a thing like that?" My face felt beet red at my mother's comment.

"Bella." Dad simply said with a wink.

"How'd you know about that?" I asked. "Never mind, Bella and Alice are snitches! I'm getting my phone and getting out of this mad house."

I ran to my room, unplugged my cell, and stuffed it into my pants pocket. As I passed my parents bedroom, my father stuck his head out and stopped me. "Maybe we should have that talk on oral sex since you took the Lord's name in vain and wished him to strike you down dead the last time I tried."

"No, that is quite okay," I said as I tried to hurry out of the vicinity. Behind me, I heard my parents laughing as I sprinted down the stairs. At least they were in a better mood now, even if it was at my expense.

When I got to Edward's house, his mom pulled out one of those cheap disposable cameras that usually took crappy pictures. I was asked to take a picture of Edward with his parents, and then they wanted one of the two of us together. She gave the camera to Edward and told him to take plenty of pictures during the evening, including one of him and Bella together.

As we pulled into the driveway at my place, I noticed Jasper in the driveway. He must have been bored out of his mind to be waiting outside. I didn't even think to bring him along. My parents started talking about sex again, and I darted out of there as quickly as humanly possible. We heard giggles from the top of the stairs and assumed that the girls were _finally_ ready to get their asses downstairs. Alice came down first, and I had to admit that she looked damn pretty in her dress. Rose was the second one to descend and might I say, she looked damn beau-ti-ful. I thought the emerald green dress was a good compliment to her looks. And holy hell, forget about bare shoulders! Can you say plunging neck line? Boing! It was hard for me to tear my eyes away from Rose. Bella finally came down, and I laughed when I saw Edward's face. I almost reached over and handed him a napkin to catch the drool that was sure to drip from the corner of his mouth.

The dance itself was great fun. As usual, the gym smelled like jock straps and sweat. Rose was a good sport and stayed on the dance floor with me for most of the night. I'd be the first to admit that I wasn't that great of a dancer. I just had fun getting up there on the dance floor and shaking my booty. Alice and Edward came down off the bleachers and made fools of themselves with us. Edward even managed to get Bella to dance for a few of the faster songs. He stayed closer to her and reached out a few times when it looked like Bella was going to take a header into someone. Poor kid was just delaying the inevitable. Or so I thought. Somehow, Bella managed to not break any limbs that night. She should have called Guinness World Book of Records with that bit of info.

I had never been a fan of slow dances before, but I think that was because I never had someone I truly liked to dance with. Edward and Bella were across the floor wrapped up in each other and so were Rose and I. Rose was tall, but I was taller so she couldn't get her arms around my neck. Hell, I was just happy to have her in my arms dancing with me.

Something happened that night with Bella and Edward. I think he finally told her all his fears about moving away. He was down in the dumps, but Bella was more so. I wasn't getting happy vibes from either of them. When we were almost to Edward's house, I got worried. Seeing flashing lights in the distance, I hoped for the best. Edward and his parents had nothing to begin with; a fire would totally devastate them. I approached from the side of the house at the corner, and my stomach felt like it had been twisted when I viewed what was in front of me.

I had thought that the shit had hit the fan at the ski cabin. I was totally wrong. This, by far, was worse than everything that happened at the ski cabin.

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**A/N:** You know what to do! If you liked it, please let me know.

I'm already five pages into the next chapter, so it'll probably be a week or less before I post again.

Want to know what happened in the den with Emmett, Alice, Carlisle and Esme that's so funny that I was laughing while writing it? What was Rose thinking when she went to Emmett's room? Check out _Legacy: Extras & Outtakes_ for a little more insight to the ski weekend.


	17. Brothers in Arms

**A/N: **For those of you not digging Emmett POV's, this is the last of the planned Emmett POV's. The next chapter returns to Edward's POV.

**Disclaimer:** I'm still not Stephenie Meyer or VC Andrews. I don't own anything except my car, my laptop, a 4 foot Christmas tree, two cats--one of which drives me crazy, copies of the Twilight saga...

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**Chapter 17: Brothers in Arms**

Two police cruisers from the Forks police department were parked in front of Edward's house. My chest felt tight, and I was worried about what was to come.

I had barely stopped the car before Edward muttered some intangible words and jumped out, running toward the cruisers. Shifting the Mercedes into park, I took off after Edward, who had spotted Charlie. It was at that moment that the both of us spotted Edward's father in the back of Charlie's police cruiser. Edward ran past Charlie and started pounding on the window with his fists so hard that I thought he was going to break the glass. He kept on shouting "Dad!" over and over, but his father wouldn't turn and look out the window at him. Instead, his head stayed straight, as if he was staring at the headrest. I felt crushed, so I could only imagine how Edward felt. Charlie managed to push Edward off and away from the cruiser.

"Mr. Swan, sir, what's going on?" Edward asked, out of breath.

"Edward." Charlie looked past Edward to me. I knew he was trying to tell me something, but I wasn't the psychic sibling. "There you are."

"I was at the dance with Bella, remember?"

There was a noise at the front door to the house, and I watched as Edward's mother was being led out in handcuffs. Oh, no, both of his parents were being arrested! "What is wrong with you? I told you, I don't know what you're talking about!" his mother screamed loudly at the police officers, which made Edward more upset.

Edward started shouting "Mom!" over and over, much more strongly than he had for his father. As soon as his mother heard Edward, she started shouting for him back. He tried to make a move forward to go to her, but Charlie tried unsuccessfully to block him. Charlie wasn't a big guy, and I had to plant my feet hard into the ground and physically hold Edward back from going to his mother. Once his mother was in the back of the other cruiser, Charlie let go of Edward and I did too.

"How dare you fuckin' help him do that to me!" Edward screamed at me.

"Chill, bro," I said. He didn't know how guilty I felt over my actions.

"Don't 'bro' me right now!"

Charlie stated that he needed to take Edward to the police station too. This was getting odder by the minute.

"I'll take him, Charlie," I said and caught the look of doubt on Charlie's face. "Please let me take him, Charlie. I'll drive between the two cruisers if it makes you feel better."

Charlie agreed, and I led Edward back to the car. I tried to apologize for holding him back. With everything going on, he didn't need to be arrested too. I followed Charlie's cruiser while the other one followed too closely behind me. I had a feeling that by the time the night was over, nothing was ever going to be the same for Edward.

When we pulled up to the front of the police station, Edward seemed to be surprised by its size. I informed him that not only was the building a police station, but it held the 911 Center and a thirty-bed jail. I knew that last fact because I had a little stay in the jail while I was fifteen. I lost my senses and had been hanging around with some jerks who were way dumber than I even look. One of them smuggled two huge ass bottles of liquor out of their parents' house. We were caught at the park, drunker than skunks, and hauled off to the police station. To teach me a lesson, my parents let me sleep it off—in what I soon learned was a thirty-bed jail. I was grounded for what seemed forever (I think technically I still am!) and tortured me the next day while I was hung over. I still remember being forced to mow the lawn with an incredibly loud lawn mower, and all the while my head felt like it was going to pop off my of my shoulders.

We sat in some incredibly hard plastic chairs that hurt your ass after five minutes. A million thoughts crossed my mind as to why Mr. and Mrs. Masen were arrested. They were drug runners. No, they wouldn't be so damn poor then. They cheated on their income tax. That was another highly unlikely scenario. They were in the country illegally. Nah, that couldn't be it. I felt useless and didn't know what to do for Edward. I regaled Edward with tales of family incest, but I still couldn't keep his mind off of what was going on. I'll be damned if he didn't somehow make me laugh.

We were pacing the small lobby for what seemed like the millionth time when I spotted Charlie walking toward us and stopped. I don't know what the hell was going through Edward's head, but even then, he was still being sarcastic. When Charlie told Edward that he needed to go with him, he looked up at me like he was seeking my opinion. I didn't know what the hell was going on, why his parents were arrested, or why Charlie wanted to see Edward. I told Edward to go only because I thought that Charlie was going to bring him back. A few minutes later, Charlie came back without Edward and insisted I go home. He even tried to pull the "friend" and "I-know-your-parents" cards. While I was walking out to the Mercedes, I called Bella and told her what was going on. Even though I was nowhere near her house, I could imagine the smoke billowing out of her ears. You know, it's not every day that your father arrests your boyfriend's parents _and_… well, I don't know why the hell Charlie had to take Edward in the back. This shit just doesn't happen everyday, I knew that much.

When I arrived home, I found my parents in the kitchen, ready to head back out for the evening. "Where are you going at this time?" I asked casually.

"Out," Mom said smiling happily, evading my question.

"You're going out at one o'clock on a Saturday morning?" That was highly unusual of my parents.

"Yes, that's right," Dad said.

"What gives? Tonight started out great. The dance went well and we had fun," I said. "You didn't even ask why I got home so late. When I dropped off Edward, his parents were being arrested. I had to leave him at the jail with Charlie. Now, at this time, you two are wide awake and going out. I would like a straight answer over something tonight. Spill."

I was angry and annoyed over what was happening with Edward, and my parents were not acting like themselves. As I spoke, my voice got louder. Alice, Jasper, and Rose were up in Alice's room and had heard the commotion downstairs and came down to see what was going on. It dawned on me that my parents didn't react to the news that Edward's parents had been arrested and I had left him at the jail. They didn't seem to care that a good friend of mine was going through some heavy duty shit right now. They hadn't even called to check in on me when everyone else made it back to the house before me.

"Emmett, not right now," Mom said. The smile that had been plastered on her face disappeared.

Dad took Mom's hand and led her to the kitchen table. He motioned for us to join as well as he sat down. "Honey, they need to be told, this affects them too." Rose and Jasper attempted to excuse themselves to go upstairs, but Dad wouldn't hear of it. "No, you might as well stay and hear it first hand so you can help Emmett and Alice understand and accept what is going on."

Jasper and Rose anxiously sat down at the kitchen table and waited for answers. "Understand what?" I asked.

"Emmett, you don't remember because you were only sixteen months old, but before I had Alice, I had another baby," Mom explained with a shaky voice.

"I know," I said. Mom appeared shocked at my admission. "It was the extra bedroom. I actually always thought you had lost a baby before me. You always kept it up to date like mine. Why didn't you ever tell us that you lost a baby?"

Mom closed her eyes. "Lost," she mumbled softly while opening her eyes and looking at me, "doesn't quite describe what happened."

Alice, who had been quiet up to this point, spoke up. "I don't understand why you wouldn't tell us that you had lost a baby."

"Your brother was kidnapped from the hospital two days after he was born," Dad blurted out. "And he's been found after all these years."

I felt like someone had just smacked me with a wrecking ball. Why hadn't my parents told us about our missing sibling? "Kidnapped? Are you serious? I have a brother?" I asked.

"Yes, and Emmett, you should…" Mom's voice trailed off as she closed her eyes and shook her head. I could tell that she was having a hard time dealing with this. Dad took her hand in his, and Mom's eyes met mine again. "It's Edward Masen. Edward is your brother."

"Say… wh… no… you…huh… what?" I was dumbfounded.

"Eddie's my brother?" Alice stated quietly to no one in particular. She seemed to be shocked just as much as I was.

Dad went on to explain that without any testing, Mom knew that Edward was her son. Motherly intuition if you will. You know, that shit you only see in movies. Something clicked with Mom about Edward when she saw him. She had a pull toward him, and Mom was confused about it. There were some things about Edward—the way he looked, interacted with us, his facial features and eye and hair color that was so similar to Grandfather's—that she paid special attention to. Mom had met Liz at the Thriftway one day and knew that she seen her from somewhere. On Halloween, Alice had called Edward by his full name. Or, at least, what he was using as his real name. As it turns out, Liz and Peter simply switched Edward's first and middle names, but the combination piqued Mom's interest. Dad had taken note of Edward's natural music ability and his interest in the medical field. Even though they were much younger then, Mom finally remembered that she recognized Liz Masen from when we lived in California. Liz and Peter worked for my Grandmother Camilla and saw them one time during a rare visit.

"How'd you get the proof? How do you know for sure?" I asked. Mom magically knowing didn't totally fly with me. There had to be some solid proof. A magical fairy of true parentage visible only to my parents' didn't fly out of Edward's ass and proclaim to them, "He's your son!" At least, I hoped not. If that did happen, we had some deeper shit going on than a kidnapping. Sam and Dean needed to get their asses here to Forks to investigate that shit. How would I recruit two fictional characters from a television show to rid Forks of... a true parentage ass fairy? Shit, my inner monologue was working overtime.

"Edward cut himself the day after Halloween in the kitchen," Jasper stated. "You took the paper towel and did a DNA test, didn't you, Carlisle?"

"That's right," Dad said proudly. "I wasn't convinced that Edward could indeed be my son until your mother recognized Liz. I thought, maybe it'd be a million to one shot and didn't want to get my hopes up."

"Why'd they take him?" Rose asked. "Did they ever try to contact you? You know, for money or something?"

"That's the one piece of the puzzle we can't figure out," Mom said. "They never attempted to make any type of contact. It was as if they took him and disappeared until this past September."

"This is unfreakin' believable," Alice said. Jasper held onto her hand. "I have another brother. What is with the genes in this family? Emmett and Edward are so tall and I got, literally, the short end of the stick."

"You're wondering about _that_ at a time like this?" I asked.

Alice shrugged her shoulders. "Coping mechanism?"

The smile on Mom's face returned. "Carlisle, can we please go pick Edward up now, _please_?"

"Percy should be there, dealing with everything," Dad said. "We might end up waiting at the station, but yes, let's go bring our son home." They started to get up from their chairs.

"I'm going with you," I said firmly.

My parents turned to face me. "I'm not sure if that's a good idea," Dad said.

"Edward's world is literally being turned upside down," I explained. "I need to be there for him in case he needs me." Under the table, I felt Rose place her hand on my knee and squeeze gently. I took this to mean that she agreed with my statement. "I sure as hell hope you don't plan on referring to him as Anthony now. Not with everything else going on. Let him keep one thing about his past."

"I hadn't even thought about that," Mom said, glancing at Dad. "You're right, Emmett."

"If Emmett is going, so am I!" Alice exclaimed and jumped up from her seat. "Let's get going already."

Jasper and Rose stayed at the house while we went to the police station. I found it ironic that I was going back to where I had just basically come from. We waited and waited and waited in the lobby. When I saw Bella come down the hallway, she questioned what we were all doing there. Slowly, I told her the story that my parents had told me, and she gasped in surprise and horror. Bella refused to leave. We talked in the corner, and she told me how Charlie had taken Edward back to a holding cell. I noted that my parents didn't seem surprised by this fact and assumed they probably gave Charlie the green light for that to be done so I'd leave.

We continued to sit and wait. Sitting across from my mother, I couldn't help but notice the broad smile on her face. "Mom, please stop looking so happy right now."

"I can't help it, Emmett," she said. "I _am_ happy. Our family is finally complete."

"This is not the time, Mom." I didn't wait for either of my parents to scold me for my words because internally, I was already doing it myself. I knew I was being rude but I couldn't see how an over exuberant new-to-you mother was going to help Edward deal with all the crap that was suddenly being thrown upon him. Getting up, I left those painful plastic chairs and paced the lobby once more. Bella followed behind me, much like Edward had done hours earlier.

"Bella?" I stopped and turned to face her. Grabbing her hand, I led her over to the counter for some privacy since our friend the desk clerk was no longer there. "What do you think this is going to do to Edward?"

"Tear him up," she said without hesitation. "He loves his… he… you could tell that he loved them."

"What do we do to help him?"

Bella bit her lip and was silent for a few moments. "I don't know, Emmett. Be there for him, I guess. Give him support. Listen to him if he needs us."

"I feel so useless," I said with a sigh.

"The fact that you're worried about Edward's well being and not just excited that he's your brother, well, Emmett, it shows how much of a kind man you are," Bella said smiling. "You're much smarter and insightful than you give yourself credit for."

"Me? I'm smart and insightful? I'll be damned. Who would've figured, huh?"

Bella punched me in the arm. "You've already been a great friend to Edward. You'll be a wonderful brother to him."

"I'm not used to having a brother."

"What about Jasper?" she asked seriously.

"That's different," I explained. "We grew up together."

"Honestly, I don't think it matters that you didn't grow up with Edward," Bella said. "I still stand by my words that you'll be a wonderful brother, Emmett. Keep on doing what you've been doing as a friend. You'll have to help support him through all this. You might even have to get him to open up and talk when it doesn't seem like he wants to. You're a great guy. Just keep on being yourself around Edward and you'll do fine. "

When the hell did Bella have the time to psycho analyze me? I felt like I should fork over some cash for a co-pay and make another appointment for next week. I couldn't see how she thought I was smart and insightful. I'm nothing special. Besides my height, there is nothing extraordinary about me. I had always thought of myself as normal and average. Freakin' dull if you asked me. "If you say so."

"Shut up and accept it, damn it."

"You sound more and more like Alice every day."

"Oh, God."

"Shut up and accept it," I said. Glancing back at my parents, I saw that Mom was looking overly happy again. "Mom's smile could light up a dark room," I said annoyed.

Bella glanced back at my parents. My father was most definitely working harder on subduing his emotions. Maybe he had more practice hiding his true feelings because of being a doctor. You can't give a patient a bad diagnosis if you look and sound upset because you're going to lose them to an incurable disease. "Your mother found out that her long lost son is being returned to her. I'm surprised she's not acting more like Alice's usual hyper self right now."

"Touché."

I suddenly heard footsteps from the hallway coming in our direction. Mom and Dad stood up but stayed at their location. Alice took a few steps forward and stood near Bella. I spotted Charlie first with Edward following behind him. Edward was staring at the floor and looked like he was walking to the executioner's chair.

When they reached us, Charlie stopped and Edward followed suit, although, I'm not sure if he knew why he had stopped. "Edward, this is your family," Charlie said. Edward looked up at us and appeared to be shocked.

Alice ran over to Edward and started hugging him tightly. "Oh, Eddie! I'm so sorry about what happened!"

I supposed it was better for Alice to make first contact than our parents. That could have started things off rather oddly, I thought.

"Midg, leggo the eggo," Edward said tiredly, his eyes half closed. Alice loosened her grip on him some.

Edward turned to Charlie. "Wait a minute, you're telling me that I'm a Cullen?"

"You didn't hear me?" he asked. Edward shook his head 'no.' "I must've told you when you were in shock or blocking everything out. That actually happened quite a bit back there."

Oh, that wasn't good. I filed that little bit of information away for later. This entire situation could end up being more traumatic for Edward then anyone could've imagined.

"At least I don't have to give up electricity or indoor plumbing," Edward mumbled.

"What was that, Eddie?" Alice asked.

"Nothing, Midg."

I could tell that Edward needed sleep and plenty of it. He was talking about not having to give up electricity or indoor plumbing. Why the hell would he be thinking about that kind of stuff? Percy McCann passed by Edward and exchanged a few words with Dad and then left.

"Edward, you look very tired, son," Dad said. I winced when he referred to Edward as son. _It's too soon_, I thought.

"I'm bushed, Car…lisle." Edward seemed confused and unsure of himself. I didn't blame him one bit. "I've been up for nearly twenty-four hours now."

Mom was about to burst with excitement. I gazed at her, and she calmed down a bit.

"Yes, let's get Edward home so he can rest," she said.

Bella went over to Edward and spoke to him very briefly before Alice led him outside. On the way to the car, Edward spoke up and asked what his real name was. Dad answered him as soon as we were all packed into the Mercedes.

"You were named after my father, Anthony Edward Cullen."

"Do I… um…"

"You might as well go by your middle name, like Alice," Mom said.

"I appreciate that," Edward told her. "I'd never answer to Anthony or Tony."

"I kind of feel left out," I said from the front seat. "I actually go by my first name."

That was actually because my middle name was Dale. I know, right? Egads. Dad always rubbed it in that it was Dale or Eugene. Neither option really suited me. There had to be another name out there that went with the name Emmett better than Dale or Eugene.

"Mormons!" Edward blurted out. I bit my lip and tried not to laugh at the randomness. What the hell was he thinking about Mormons for at a time like this?

"What about Mormons, Edward?" Mom asked.

"Nothing, nothing," he mumbled.

The rest of the ride was in silence. Alice said that she thought Edward had fallen asleep during the short ride home with his forehead against the window. He woke up when the car stopped in the garage and the lights came on.

We stepped into the living room and were nervously standing around.

"Do you need anything, Edward?" Mom asked. "Besides sleep?"

"I think that'll do it." Edward rubbed his eyes and yawned.

"I'll show you to your room," Mom said, guiding him to the stairs. Alice excused herself and headed to her room, following closely behind Mom and Edward.

"Dad," I whispered as soon as Mom was out of sight. "You need to tell Mom to tone it down a bit."

"I will, Emmett," Dad said. "I will. Please, don't give her too much grief over this. This has been very hard for her. She never expected to ever get her son back."

"Why didn't you ever tell us?"

"I contemplated over the matter, many times," he said. "Out of sight, out of mind... what you don't know can't hurt you… I don't know. Your mother was a mess when Edward was kidnapped. Every year at his birthday she'd mourn him for two days. I wanted to tell you and Alice, but… I didn't see what good could have come from the two of you knowing. I already had your mother's emotions to deal with."

"I feel… lied to," I gulped. I was feeling more than just lied to. I was feeling betrayed…deceived… deluded…mislead… hurt… resentful… pissed off. Shit, I needed to go buy a dictionary and a thesaurus to help me out here. English was never my best subject and it bored me to death. How many years in a row did I need to learn what a noun, verb, and adjective were?

My father stepped forward and hugged me. "I'm sorry you feel that way, Emmett." He let go and patted my back. "Let's go see if I have something that Edward can wear to bed. You can take it and offer it to him if he hasn't already fallen asleep."

I followed Dad upstairs, and we met Mom in the doorway of their bedroom. Dad rummaged through his drawers and found a pair of black sweat pants and a white t-shirt that had seen better days. They were closer to Edward's size and wouldn't be as likely to fall off of him. Taking them from Dad, I left my parents room and made my way upstairs to Edward's room. Unsure if he was already sleeping, I knocked lightly on the door.

"Yeah, come in."

I slowly opened the door and poked my head in. Edward was sitting on his bed with his face in his hands. He looked so tired, sad, and miserable. "Dad told me to bring these to you." Opening the door the rest of the way, I stepped inside and walked over to the bed. Shit, should I have referred to our father as Dad? Should I call him Carlisle around Edward? Would that make him feel more comfortable? I placed the clothes on the bed and sat down next to Edward. "They're his and they'll probably be a little big on you. I know my stuff won't fit you."

"I'd be swimming in your stuff. I probably fit into Alice and Esme's things."

I tried to imagine Edward wearing a pair of Alice's pink sweat pants. No, that wouldn't do. "Don't go all cross dresser on me now, bro."

"How the hell ironic is it that you thought of me as a brother."

I shifted on the bed. "I didn't know anything. Honestly, I didn't. I thought of you as a brother, but I didn't know it was true."

"I wasn't thinking otherwise," he said.

I breathed a sigh of relief. I wanted him to trust me and not think that I was lying to him. "I'm kind of pissed that they never told me or Alice anything about this. I knew we had lived in California when I was younger, but we moved up here when I was too young to remember."

"Is that why you vacationed in California?" he asked.

"I guess so," I started and paused. "Mom never seemed to have a good time when we were down there. I guess it was because of her memories of losing you were tangled up with that state. I don't know why she'd put herself through that."

I lay back on the bed and stared at the ceiling and then I heard Edward sniff. Oh, shit. The dam had finally broken and he's crying. I sat up. "Are you okay?"

"I don't know," he sniffed again.

"You're crying, Edward."

"Did they teach you that in kindergarten?"

I placed my hand on his shoulder. "Come here."

"What?" he asked. "Are you gonna hold me and make it all go away?"

"Talk to me, man," I pleaded. Maybe if he talked about what he was feeling, he'd feel better. Isn't this what Bella said I might need to do? Then again, maybe he needed sleep more than anything. Shit, Bella should be here, not me! I felt like I was going to screw this up.

He glanced up at me with tears dripping down his cheeks. "My entire life has been a lie, Emmett. I'm confused. I'm sad. I'm angry. Is that what you want to hear?"

"I want to hear whatever you want to tell me," I told him. "I'm sorry that I can't make this all go away. If I could turn back time and never become friends with you in Photography, I would. If that's what it'd take to make you feel better, I'd undo this entire thing. I'd do anything for you, bro, but unfortunately, I don't have a time machine."

Edward started bawling at my words. "If you speak of this night to anyone, I will find someone to give your ass a severe beating!"

"Get your scrawny little ass over here so I can console you."

He moved hesitantly toward me, I reached out for him and gathered him in my arms. Edward crushed his face against my chest to muffle his crying. Instinctively, I rubbed his back and rocked him back and forth like a baby. After a few minutes, the room fell silent and I knew I wasn't going to be sleeping in my own room. I leaned back slowly and carefully on the bed so I could lay us down against the mattress.

And that's how I fell asleep that night, with my brother wrapped in my arms.

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**A/N:** Did ya like it? If ya did, tell me!


	18. Breakin' Dishes

**DISCLAIMER:** I don't own _Twilight_ or _Dawn_. I'm not Stephenie Meyer or VC Andrews.

**A/N:** I bet some of you were starting to think you'd never see this chapter. To tell you the truth, I started wondering the same thing. I started reading fan fic that I was behind on, but it seems that I can't read and write at the same time. Every time I sat down to write, I'd go and finish a paragraph or two and then stop. I've been so blocked and distracted it's not funny. I swear, I have ADDW. What's ADDW? Attention Deficit Disorder of Writing. I'd be in the middle of something and then I'd need to Google or Wiki a certain subject. I'm checking into Mormon's and FLDS and end up reading the entire Wiki page on Mormons. I saw that I had an email from Facebook and then spent a half hour on that site doing a note and other crap. I looked up the information on the Amish, which led me to read the entire Wiki article on the Amish and then look into what Anabaptists are. I'd check Twitter and MySpace. I checked on Amazon to see how many dishes are in the standard dish set and I saw a compact dish rack I really liked. I then ended up on a hunt for a compact dish rack. I swear, I'm as bad as a little kid with a two second attention span!

Thanks, shout outs and love to **LeAnn** for all her shopping research--all Edward's clothing options are because of her. The links are in my profile. And thanks and love in general to the regular girls over in the _Legacy_ thread at Twilighted (ChocolateBrownEyes, VickiTori303, TwilightFan104, , pixieyow, my bitches Staysa, LeAnn and Lucky, the newer girls OMGalarm, Venjoss and RhiannonCullen... forgive me if I've forgotten anyone) You kept on me without being annoying bitches. That takes some talent, ladies!

Thanks to **Birdee** for cleaning up my crap. Just when I think I have down where to put all the coma's, I screw up and you add a ton.

* * *

**Chapter 18: Breakin' Dishes**

To some extent, it kind of felt as if I was on a boat. My one hand and arm were slowly moving up and down in a rhythmic motion but the rest of me was still. My eyes slowly fluttered open, and I woke to see a wall of white blocking my view. Where the hell was I? Groaning, I slowly stretched out my achy muscles.

"Good morning, sleeping beauty," a deep, familiar voice said. Blinking rapidly, the memories of last night came rushing back. I was Anthony Edward fuckin' Cullen. Glancing up toward the voice, I found Emmett looking down at me with a huge smile spread across his lips. "You're drooling on me, ya know."

"Sorry 'bout that," I said, looking around and wiping my mouth. There was a little wet spot on Emmett's shirt where my face had been. Emmett had lain down on my bed and took up most of it because of the way he was positioned across it. I was on my side, facing him with my one arm sprawled across his chest. His left arm was around my shoulders, and his hand rested on my back. At least we weren't spooning.

"It's been years since I've slept in the same bed with a guy."

"Do you have a secret life that I don't know about?" I asked him seriously. "You can tell me, I won't judge you. I'll love you either way. Cross my heart and all that shit."

He roared with laughter. "Shut up, moron. When Jazz and I were younger, we'd sleep in the same bed during sleepovers."

I barely heard the quiet knock on the door and before either of us could say anything, it opened up and Alice appeared in the doorway. "Thought I heard noises from in here. I see you two have a bromance thing going on."

"Bromance?" I asked. Alice walked over and jumped onto the foot of the bed, lying across our legs.

"It's when two male friends or brothers… oh, you need to watch _Supernatural_ to fully understand the concept," Emmett said. "Sam and Dean are the prime examples of bromance in my book."

I heard a click and saw Alice securing her phone into the pocket of her jeans. "Did you take a picture of us with your cell?" Emmett asked her.

"Now, would I do a thing like that?" Alice grinned devilishly. "Yes, yes I would. The parental units sent me up here to check on the two of you."

I removed my arm from Emmett's chest as he removed his arm from around me. I went to move away from Emmett and stretch more but I suddenly found myself landing on the floor on my back with a loud thud. Alice's and Emmett's heads hung over the edge of the bed and gazed at me. "You okay?" they asked at the same time.

"Hulk takes up more space than he thinks he does," I said, taking Emmett's outreached hand and pulling myself up off the floor and sitting down on the bed. "I've only had a mattress on the floor the last several months."

"So I've heard," Alice said. "Are you two hungry?"

Emmett and I looked at each other, and our stomachs growled. "That'd be a yes," I said.

Emmett stood up and stretched, yawning at the same time. "I need to shower, shit, and shave first."

"I have nothing to fuckin' wear," I stated simply. "Carlisle sent up a pair of sweats and a t-shirt, but I've got nothing else to wear."

Visibly excited, Alice jumped up and down on my bed on her knees. "I'll go get something of Jasper's for you. Um, you'll need boxers and socks too. Oooh, now I can really take you shopping, Eddie!"

"Great, I gotta wear another man's boxers."

Emmett laughed. "Better than going commando and getting something of importance stuck in the zipper. Besides, they'll be clean."

Alice skipped out of my room. Emmett pointed to a door across the room. "That's your bathroom."

"I have my own bathroom?" I asked with a raised brow.

"It's weird. We each do, but then there are other bathrooms too. Talk about overkill. I don't know if your bathroom is stocked with towels or anything." Emmett opened the door to the bathroom and looked inside. "Nope, nothing, follow me." He took me out into the hallway, and we entered the main bathroom. Opening the closet door, he handed me a set of towels, shampoo, soap, toothpaste, and a toothbrush. "These will do for now, until Esme can go shopping to get you what you want."

"If you haven't noticed, I'm not really a brand snob," I told him. I noted that he referred to his own…. uh, our mother by her first name. It was probably for my benefit. "I don't know Johnson and Johnson from… well, what the hell ever it is you use."

"I use Diesel stuff." I glanced at him. What the hell was that? "Not as in diesel fuel, moron. The brand name is Diesel."

"I've just always used whatever was on sale or the store brand," I said, shrugging my shoulders. Emmett and Alice probably never shopped at the dollar store for their toiletries. "I don't care about brand names."

"Don't say that too loud, you might cause Alice to go into cardiac arrest," Emmett whispered.

Alice started to walk past the bathroom as we were leaving, carrying a small pile of folded clothes in her little hands. "You boys can't piss on your own already?"

"I needed him to hold my dick," I joked.

"I thought you were supposed to be holdin' mine!" Emmett exclaimed.

"You two are so made for one another." Alice continued into my room, and Emmett and I followed her. "Esme should buy Cheerios so you can see which one of you has the best aim."

"Sounds fun, I'm game. Emmett?"

He shook his head. "Okay, this has gone on long enough. I'm only sinking Cheerios with you if we're using squirt guns. I'm not whippin' out my dick in front of you."

"Spoil sport," I said, sticking out my tongue at him. "You afraid you're not packin' as much?"

"All right boys, I'm gonna go now," Alice announced. She placed the pile of clothes on my bed and then walked over to me and gave me a hug.

"What? Just because I've been stuck with you since the day you were born, I don't get a hug?" Emmett questioned Alice as she was halfway to the door. He raised his hand to his chest. "You hurt me so, Midgy-kins."

Alice eyes darted back and forth between us and she giggled. "I've always liked Eddie better," she said with her chin jutted out in defiance.

"Oh, that's it!" Emmett shouted. "Be right back, bro."

Alice darted out of my room, and Emmett quickly followed her. Out in the hallway he caught up with Alice and slung her over his shoulder. He stuck his head back in my door way while Alice attempted to kick Emmett in the chest. "Fifteen minutes good enough? I'll come back up here and go downstairs with you, if you want. You know, make it less, um, weird maybe."

"Sounds good. Thanks, Emmett," I said, closing the door after he turned and went down the hallway. I waited, hearing Alice's muffled laughter head down the stairs with Emmett's heavy footsteps. Leaning against the door, I sighed heavily. Emmett had reminded me that I had to face two people that I didn't necessarily want to. I dumped the towels and toiletries in the bathroom and grabbed the clothes from the end of the bed. In the shower, I thought of all the things that had happened in the last twenty-four hours. How drastically my life had changed. Knowing I was on the verge of breaking out in tears once more, I decided that I couldn't think of the past right now. All of that, those memories, had to be pushed to the side for the time being. I knew I was going to have to take off the band-aid sooner or later or I'd never heal properly. My problem, though, was figuring out how to take off the band-aid while keeping my sanity at the same time. I had to make it through another day—my first official day as a Cullen. Or, since I had been kidnapped when I was two days old, would this be my third official day as a Cullen? No matter, I was glad that Emmett thought to come back upstairs to face Carlisle and Esme with me. I felt like I could be myself—whoever the fuck I was—around Emmett and Alice. Having formed friendships with them, I was familiar with their personalities, their ticks… and they were familiar with me. Carlisle and Esme, on the other hand, were my friends' parents, not mine. I knew that wasn't true, but that's how it felt. Would I ever think of them as more than the two adults in the house?

Shutting off the shower, I stepped out and dried off. I changed into Jasper's clothes that Alice had collected for me. It was a good thing that he liked me well enough. You don't let just anyone parade around in your underwear. Alice went through Jasper's things and had given me a pair of dark wash jeans, a black v-neck sweater and white turtleneck to wear. I had to let her know that I disliked turtlenecks. It felt like I was being choked by the damn thing. When I stepped out of the bathroom, I found Emmett sitting on my bed waiting for me.

"Shit, man, you take longer than a girl."

"Do not."

"Uh huh."

"Nuh uh."

"I'm starving," Emmett said. "You ready Eddie-kins?"

I ignored the play on my nickname. "I'm starving too. What the hell time is it?"

Emmett glanced at his watch. "One o'clock."

"No wonder we're hungry." I followed Emmett out of my room and down the stairs. The aroma of French toast assaulted my nose as we reached the first floor. "That smells really, really good right now."

"If you haven't noticed, Esme's a great cook."

"Right now, I'm so hungry I could probably eat something you made."

"Hey, I can manage if I have to!" Emmett said, sitting down at the kitchen table.

Carlisle came over and placed two plates, glasses, and a gallon of milk down on the table. "Esme decided to make breakfast for you even though it's well past lunch time. Edward, would you like something other than milk? We have orange juice if you'd prefer it."

"I actually favor milk with breakfast stuff, thank you." Carlisle sat down across from us while Emmett poured milk into the glasses and passed one to me. We both drank from our glasses, finishing half of the white liquid and laughed together. I slid my glass toward Emmett. "Top me off, good man."

"Cheerio, mate," he said, using a bad fake British accent.

I snorted. "Don't mention Cheerios!"

Emmett topped off his own glass before replacing the top to the milk. "Fruit Loops would work too, ya know."

"No more talk about hollow cereal!"

"What in the world are you two going on about?" Carlisle asked, confused.

Emmett checked on Esme's whereabouts. She was still back at the oven, far enough away from the table. Emmett leaned forward and whispered to Carlisle. "Pissing contest."

Carlisle laughed and shook his head. "Aren't you two a little old to be practicing your aim?"

"Not according to the women of the world," Emmett said.

Esme came over with a large plate of French toast and placed it on the table near Emmett, who eyed the plate hungrily. "Edward, honey, do you like scrambled eggs, French toast, and bacon?"

"Uh huh, sounds good to me."

Emmett moved the plate of French toast in front of him. "Sorry, man, all you're getting is the bacon and eggs."

"Don't make me stab you with a fork over some French toast."

Emmett laughed. "Hee hee, you wanna fork me."

Esme had made her way back over to the table with the eggs, bacon, and silverware and set them down on the table. "Oh, what is the saying?" Esme said, eyeing the plate in front of Emmett. "You better share with Edward or I will cut you."

"Heh, good one, Esme!" I said. I caught Carlisle laughing across the table from me at Esme's declaration.

"Mom's goin' all gangsta on us now." Emmett moaned and pushed the French toast between us so I could access it. We both picked from the plates, and I noticed something was missing.

"Do you have syrup?" I asked, covering my egg-filled mouth with a hand.

"Almost forgot it," Esme mumbled, hurrying off to the microwave. She grabbed a small glass bowl from inside and came back to the table. They microwaved the syrup? I thought it was a little odd until I tasted a piece of French toast with the warm syrup.

Ooooh, that was good. Syrup straight from the fridge will never compare to syrup that was warmed up. Tick one good thing off for my new life. Even if it was a food-related item.

"I thought I'd take Edward into town to Chinook to get a few essentials," Emmett suggested.

He hadn't asked me about that, but I liked the idea. I'd feel better having my own things. Wait, I had my own things, and they were currently located at another house that I didn't fuckin' have access to.

"I kind of need some clothes, too," I said. "And I've only got a pair of dress shoes."

"We could go to Outfitters and see if they have any clothes for now. They might have a pair of sneakers that you'd like."

"That sounds good, Emmett. I want you two to stay local for now," Carlisle said. "There have been news reporters camping out on the front lawn all day. I'd rather you not go to Port Angeles right now."

"What?" I asked, confused. "Are you serious? Reporters?" I shoved another piece of bacon into my mouth.

"Local?" Emmett asked.

"One or two," Carlisle said. "KNBC from California was here earlier."

"Lovely," Emmett muttered quietly.

Alice came downstairs and sat at the table next to me with her laptop. Meanwhile, Esme took a seat next to Carlisle. "I can get you new clothes here probably by Tuesday with rush delivery."

I glanced at the screen and read about a pair of Dsquared2 jeans. The page stated there were "artful paint stains throughout" the denim. People paid for paint stains? The jeans looked trendy and comfortable, but at the same time, totally not me. Then I saw the price of the jeans and dropped my fork. "Midg, are you out of your ever lovin' mind?"

"What, Eddie?" Alice reached over and snatched a piece of bacon from my plate.

"Eight hundred dollars for a pair of jeans?" I said, and Alice shrugged her shoulders. "You _are_ out of your mind!"

"Seven-hundred and ninety-five dollars," she said.

"Close enough, Midg! Do you know how much I spent on my jeans at Wal-Mart?"

"Not nearly enough." A smug smile played on her lips.

"Twelve dollars a pair," I informed her. Alice gasped and placed her hand against her chest.

"Edward, you're going to make her faint!" Carlisle stated. "Make sure you catch her if she starts to fall backwards."

"Oh my," Alice mumbled. "That just ain't right."

"I refuse to let you buy me eight hundred dollar jeans." Picking up my fork, I pointed it at her. "You may be out of your mind, but I'm not!"

"Actually, it'd be Mom and Dad buying the jeans for you," Alice whispered. "Not me."

I took another bite of French toast and a swig of milk. "Either way, Midg, noooooo. No. No. It's the same in a lot of languages. No. Noooooo."

"Alice, find something else that's more acceptable to Edward's price range," Esme said. I hadn't failed to notice Esme's constant stares as the conversation flowed between Alice and me and wished she'd stop looking at me. I wanted to tell her take a picture because it'd last longer. It felt as if her eyes were burning into me.

"After you're done shopping online for Edward, I'd like to go over your portfolio with you," Carlisle said to Alice. "You've got some stocks that have been dropping rapidly."

"Okay, Dad, we'll look over that later."

Emmett chuckled next to me. "Wal-Mart has a website, sis."

"I will _not_ taint my computer with Wal-Mart." Turning back to the laptop, she typed some words into Google. Alice typed gingerly on the keys and then turned the computer toward me. I finished off my breakfast and waited and watched for another website to load.

"Okay, Eddie, how about Lucky Brand?" Alice asked. "The price range is about eighty-eight to a hundred and fifty."

Emmett elbowed me in the arm to get my attention. "That price range is equal to yours. Trust me. It's the cheapest you're going to get."

Defeated, I turned back to Alice. "You better get more of those eighty-eight dollar pairs that the other ones."

She clapped her hands and started clicking and pointing on the website. Alice picked out two new coats for me—one from Diesel and the other from Nordstrom. I neglected to tell Alice that I really liked the leather coat from Diesel. I couldn't give her the satisfaction. I explained to Alice that I wasn't very picky with my shirts, but that I didn't actually like turtle necks. Upon hearing that, she dragged me upstairs and had me change into a white t-shirt. We went back down stairs and continued our online shopping excursion. Frankly, I was glad it was online and not at the mall in Port Angeles. I would have been exhausted by now! Alice showed me some brightly colored boxers with colorful graffiti-like designs that I liked. Emmett once again informed that "the price was right" and to let Alice get them for me. I don't know how the hell he thought the price was right at thirty-eight dollars for a pair of boxers. Who the hell is Ed Hardy, why are his boxers thirty-eight dollars a pair, and why are the labeled "girl friendly?" Oh… oh, fuck, wait, I knew why they were girl friendly. I stared at the website as Alice picked out another design for me. In the picture, a topless girl (who was covering her tits with her arm) was wearing the boxers. Oddly enough, I found that kind of sexy. I was trying to imagine Bella wearing them when my eyes came across the description. What the hell is a "gusseted crotch piece for added room?" I didn't think I needed extra room down there. Did I? _Should_ I need extra room? I was getting self conscious over underwear selections! Alice started searching for shoes, and I saw a pair of Doc Marten boots that I liked. Being that I didn't know squat about fashion, Alice balked at my choice. In order to get the boots, I had to barter with Alice. I promised to let her pick out something expensive for me in the future. She smiled mischievously at our agreement, and I was worried about the shopping monster that would be unleashed at a later date. I was very, very scar-ed.

At this point in the afternoon, I'd have to add to the long list of awkward moments between my family and me. Emmett got up and took his dishes into the kitchen, rinsed them off, and placed them in the dishwasher. I did the same, but drew the line when Emmett hugged Esme. I smiled oddly at her, knowing that I was hurting her feelings but uneasy and unsure of what else to do. "Thanks for the food, it was real good," I said, flustered. Without being able to read minds, I knew that she wanted to reach out and hug me like she did Emmett, but I couldn't bring myself to follow through with that action. I used to hug my… I used to hug Liz Masen in the kitchen were we lived.

Why the hell did this have to be so hard? Crap, this was a total pain in the ass.

I still liked the idea of getting out of the house for a bit. Carlisle agreed to let us leave, but he called the police station first. Carlisle handed me a crisp new looking hundred dollar bill for any supplies that I might need. I gawked at it in awe—I had never seen one before. I felt like I should be putting that sucker behind glass and framing it for posterity. He told Emmett if I needed more money to cover me and that he'd pay him back. The cops arrived and while one of the cops kept the reporters busy talking to them about getting off the front lawn, Emmett and I made our escape. To be honest, I thought Carlisle's escape plan was pretty brilliant! As we reached Chinook, I tried to think of what I actually needed. The spare items that Emmett had given me earlier were totally fine with me. I ain't all that picky.

"Do you actually need anything here?" Emmett asked while pulling into a parking spot. "Or did you just want to get away from shit for a while?"

"You know, I could use a razor."

"We could get that at the Thriftway, but since we're here, let's go."

"I'd rather stay away from the Thriftway, actually," I said. "You know, I'd like to avoid the prying eyes of the people I work with for now."

"You don't have to keep that job."

"I don't see why I shouldn't really," I said. "How else am I going to earn any money of my own?"

Emmett shook his head at me. "Never mind, Edward. Come on, let's go inside and get what you need. They're will probably be prying eyes in Chinook, too."

Emmett and I made our way across the parking lot and into Chinook Pharmacy and Variety. I always thought that it was a neat little store. It carried the regular items you'd find in a pharmacy plus a little bit of everything else. We found the razors and out of habit, I was comparing prices and not looking at the razors themselves.

"You're gonna tear your face up with that cheap ass piece of plastic," Emmett said. He grabbed a razor that was near him and shoved it at me. It was called the Gillette Mach3 Turbo.

"When the hell did razors start sounding like jet planes?" I glanced at the price. "Christ, for ten bucks, is it going to suck my dick and cup my balls too? I feel like I should be digging around for a coupon for that sucker."

"It'll only cup your balls if you're shaving those saggy suckers. You'll be thanking me when you're not tearing up your face." He grabbed some blade refills and shaving gel. "Besides, there are even more expensive options available. I thought this would be a good middle of the road solution since you're not used to being able to spend money on this type of stuff."

"Carlisle's buying." I patted my back pocket where the hundred dollar bill was waiting to be spent. "I really do feel weird taking money from him."

"In time, I'm sure you'll get over that," Emmett smiled. "No more dollar stores for you."

"Oh man, come on, sometimes they get some really great shit in," I said, half kidding. In the past, I had found some great deals on brand-name items at dollar stores. It's not every day that you can buy a five dollar item for just a buck.

"You are so lucky that I'm not Alice. She'd be on the floor passed out over your comments." Emmett's head snapped to the right and then back to me. "I think we have a reporter over that-a-way. I guess it's time to get out of here."

I quickly glanced in the direction he indicated and saw a man reading a magazine. I don't know how he could be reading anything in the magazine since it was upside down! Could he be any more obvious? He probably had a camera on him somewhere and had been taking pictures of us. We headed to the registers to check out, and my eyes landed on the newspaper stand. "Cullen Kid Returned" yelled one headline, while another one proclaimed "Kidnapped Cullen Comes Home."

Frankly, I was surprised they hadn't spelled Cullen with a K and made us into racists. "School is going to be oh so fun on Monday," I uttered quietly. "Everyone is going to be fucking staring at me more than they did before."

"You'll probably stay home Monday so Alice and I can assess the situation at school," Emmett said. I glanced at him over him using a word like assess. "What? It's from the Word of the Day calendar for eighth graders. I like to broaden my horizons."

"You have a Word of the Day calendar for _eighth graders_?" I asked, laughing.

"What? Shut it. It was on clearance here last January after the holidays. I thought it'd be _stimulating_ for my mind. And before you say anything else, no, it was the highest grade level they had left. I also have a Spanish Word of the Day calendar. Sadly, I pretty much gave up on it back in February because I didn't know if I was pronouncing the words right. The last word was perro, which means dog. I'm sure I said that wrong, too. So, I repeat, shut it."

"Let's get the hell out of here." My eyes scanned the papers again. A posed family picture that Emmett told me was taken last year was on one front page. The other had a picture of a newborn baby splashed across it. I assumed it was me. Reaching down toward the papers, I picked a copy of each one and threw them on the counter with my shaving supplies. "Might as well learn about myself while I'm at it," I said to Emmett. I'm not totally sure, but he looked as though he wasn't happy with my actions.

We went out to the Jeep, and Emmett handed me the keys and told me to get inside. "Don't let anyone in. If they get near the Jeep, don't talk to 'em at all and ignore their asses. I'll be right back." Starting the Jeep to get the heat going, I watched as Emmett sprinted back into Chinook. He was back outside, shoved a rather large plastic bag, broom, and dust pain in the back seat and slipped behind the wheel not even five minutes later. "Forgot something," he explained simply. "You want to go to Outfitters for a pair of sneakers?"

"Might as well since we're out," I said. "I'm a bit overdressed with the dress shoes, ya know?" Emmett's shoes were a size too big on me and so were Carlisle's.

When we hit Outfitters, I spotted Mike Newton at the register. I was glad that he was busy, and I didn't think he noticed us walk in. Emmett led the way and I quickly found a pair of sneakers I liked and we bought 'em and got the hell out of there. Upside Down Magazine Reporter Guy had a friend at Outfitters who I nicknamed Man Trying on Women's Shoes because when Emmett pointed him out, he quickly grabbed a box with a pair of woman's sandals off the shelf and tried to fit his feet into them. Man Trying on Women's Shoes seemed to be more of a dim bulb than his friend with the upside down magazine. Newton's mother checked us out and didn't say much other than to ask us if we found everything and then instructed us to have a good day.

I'm tryin' lady, I'm fuckin' tryin'.

I changed into my new sneakers out in the Jeep, and my feet sighed in relief. The dress shoes weren't fully broken in and after wearing them all night, I don't think I'd ever want to wear those suckers ever again.

Emmett started heading north toward Port Angeles, which I wasn't expecting since Carlisle had told us to stay close to Forks. He kept looking in the rear view mirror and grumbling. I looked behind us to see a car following closely behind. "Why don't we call the cops to tell them what's going on?" I asked.

"Good idea, Eddie my boy!" He handed his cell phone over to me. The thought crossed my mind that Alice would probably want to purchase a cell phone for me now, even though I honestly didn't need one. "I've got Charlie's cell in there, think you can find it?"

Emmett had to show me what button to press to get to the address book. I scrolled down and found Charlie's contact information and called him. Once he answered, I told him what was going on and where we were. I relayed information on what direction we were going, and Charlie said he'd send a patrol car right out. A few minutes later we knew Charlie had kept his word when a cruiser pulled up behind the car that was following us with its lights flashing.

We continued down the road for a few more miles. By this time I was sure we were closer to Port Angeles than Forks. Emmett made a left hand turn into a barely visible road and stopped in front of a metal gate. I got out and shoved the gate to the side and then moved it back after Emmett had gotten the Jeep through it. Emmett had a plow for his Jeep and had to use it to clear parts of the path along the way. The wind had shifted the snow, and it drifted up higher in some places than others. The path winded up the mountain, and I kept looking outside at nothing but Mother Nature at her finest. It'd probably be pretty up here in the spring and summer with all the greenery and wild flowers. Where the hell ever we were, I liked it. The snow glistened off the mountain, sparkling in the sunlight. It was nice and peaceful and quiet.

_Thinking quiet_ as I'd like to call it. You know, so quiet that you couldn't help but think about the fact that you just found out that you were kidnapped. Oooh, no, that was just me.

An old style log cabin came into view, and Emmett parked near it. "Welcome to Casa de Cullen, part deux," he said.

"You guys own a fuckin' mountain," I said in disbelief.

"_We_ own a fuckin' mountain," he corrected me. "Weird, huh? Carlisle bought this, but he never did much with it. There aren't even any power lines up here."

"Talk about roughin' it."

Emmett laughed. "As if. Hello? You have met Esme and Alice before, right? We have a gas-powered generator."

Silly me, like Alice could go without her hair dryer for one day. Emmett turned off the Jeep, hopped out of it, and headed over to an area near the side of the cabin. Seven old snow covered tree stumps were in a circle around what looked to be a fire pit.

"The last time we came up here for a weekend Jasper, Rose, and Bella were with us," Emmett said. "We sat around in front of the fire the first night and made S'mores."

"Sounds wholesome and all that shit." It sounded so Rockwellesque. I'd bet Norman would have had a field day with them.

Emmett cleared the snow off of a tree stump and sat down. "Edward, what the hell was with you blurting out 'Mormons!' last night?"

"Oh, that?"

"Yeah, that," Emmett said. "Do you have something against Mormons?"

"I was thinking of different scenarios in my head of what was happening. I was trying to think of those people in Utah who are polygamists, and I didn't want to go back to Utah."

Emmett laughed at me. "You're a moron. Mormons haven't been polygamists since the 1800s."

"And you would know this because?"

"I know a lot of useless facts." He tapped the side of his head. "It's getting crowded in here. The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, usually shortened to FDLS, is the group in Utah that are polygamists."

"Oh, so I should've been yelling FDLS in the car."

"Exactly."

"Silly me," I said. "The Amish still don't use electricity and shun all modern conveniences, right?"

"That hasn't changed as far as I know. You know, the Morons, FDLS, and Amish aren't exactly my usual topics of conversation."

"It's that or my kidnapping," I said.

Emmett shifted on the tree stump. "Do you know that Rumspringa can be a very difficult time in an Amish teenager's life?"

Stifling a laugh at Emmett's subject choice, I cleared off a tree stump and sat down across from him. "Avoidance, thy name is Emmett."

"Look, Edward, I don't know what you want me to say about it. What happened to you sucks, it really does. I can't even begin to imagine what is going through your head. You must have so many questions."

"You're damn right I do."

"I was fuckin' shocked when they told me what happened, so you'd be better off to ask Carlisle and Esme about what happened," Emmett said truthfully. "I might screw up some of the details. The thought of a true parentage fairy coming out of your ass still freaks me the hell out."

True parentage fairy? "What the fuck are you talking about? Nothing unusual has come out of my ass!"

"Nothing, never mind. It's not important." Emmett laughed, got up, and looked into the distance before turning his attention back to me. "I brought you up here so you could clear your mind if you wanted to. Stay here." He walked over to the Jeep and for a moment, I thought he was going to drive off and leave me alone on Cullen Mountain. He reached into the back seat and brought back the huge mysterious plastic bag that he had run back into Chinook to purchase. Emmett removed a box from the bag, placed it on top of a tree stump, and opened it up. I noticed that the outside of the box stated it was a sixteen piece dinnerware set.

"Emmett, what the hell are you doing with a dinnerware set? How is that supposed to clear my head?"

"Did you know that breakin' shit and screaming can make you feel better? I don't know if it's a proven medical fact or anything, but it's true. In _most_ cases, I think it's stupid to get into a fight with someone, so why not smash some dishes?" He reached into the box and picked up a light blue mug and held it in his hand. "If you don't mind, I'm going to use one of these but that'll still leave you with fifteen pieces."

Emmett turned to the back of the house and stared at it. He looked at the mug in his hand and in a very loud but calm voice said, "This is because you never told me about Edward!" And then Emmett reached back and threw the mug at the house. The mug exploded into hundreds of small pieces, the crashing noise echoed into the silent forest, and the pieces fell to the ground next to the cabin.

It was easy to forget that my kidnapping had affected more than just myself. Not only had Carlisle and Esme lost a son, but Emmett and Alice had missed out on having a brother. Emmett stared at the back of the cabin, his jaw set hard and his breathing was slightly jagged. I now understood that he was mad at Carlisle and Esme because they never told him or Alice about me. I wondered how Alice felt about this entire situation. Was she mad at her… our parents like Emmett?

"I'll leave you alone. Feel free to obliterate as many as dishes as you want, and clean up after yourself when you're done with the broom and dust pan in the back of the Jeep," Emmett said and started to walk away suddenly before I could say anything to him. "I'll give you like, twenty minutes, man." He continued past the front of the house and into the distance.

I glanced at my watch and thought about what I wanted to break the dishes over. Emmett had walked away to give me privacy and I was glad because, really, did I want him to overhear my screams? I had fifteen chances to get out my frustrations from the last seventeen years.

I looked into the box of dishes. They looked like they were a cheap set. Good, I thought. That meant that Emmett didn't spend a lot of money on me. Shit, I mentally kicked myself, why the fuck am I still thinking like that?

Before I even realized what I was doing, I picked up a mug and threw it at the house with all the force I could muster. "For never having any fucking money and making me go without all the time!"

I knew I probably sounded like an ungrateful bastard at that moment, but I thought I had earned the right. At least for a little while.

I picked up another mug and threw it at the house. "For taking me in the first place!"

"For making me fucking care about you!" The last mug crashed against the wooden logs of the house, shattering and falling to the snowy ground, joining the rest of the set.

Digging into the box, I chose to break the bowls next.

"I never had any friends!"

"All the damn moving!"

"The crappy houses we lived in!"

I couldn't recall what I threw the last bowl over. I had thrown them in such a rushed succession, everything started to blur together. Sighing, I closed my eyes and waited. I tried to listen to the silence, but my mind was filled with too many thoughts. They were all swirling around in my head in an angry clump like a multiple personality disorder. I wanted the silence to come back. Reaching into the box, I grabbed one of the smaller plates and hurled it at the house without giving a reason. Just fuckin' because.

"For limiting my dreams!"

"My chance with Bella was almost ruined!"

"I didn't grow up with Emmett and Alice!"

Four dinner plates remained in the box.

"I can't bring myself to hate you!"

"I can't even call them Mom and Dad because they're strangers to me!"

"I'm not even comfortable in my own home!"

"You made me love you, damn it!"

I knew I had started to repeat myself, but some things just begged repeating. I hated feeling so conflicted and emotional. Would my life ever feel normal again?

* * *

**A/N:** I want to do a chapter for Extras & Outtakes of this chapter from Emmett's POV. When will it happen? Your guess is as good as mine!

Does anyone else use Twitter? I was thinking of setting up a Twitter group for _Legacy_ but didn't know how many people would use it.  
(**Update:** Legacy Twitter is set up, it's called LegacyFF or see the link in my profile.)


	19. The Odyssey

**DISCLAIMER:** I'm not Stephenie Meyer nor am I VC Andrews.

**A/N:** Got this one out quicker than I thought I would! Birdee--thanks!

The rhymes were _**not**_ written by me. The first rhyme is by LeAnn and the second one is by Emily. Thank you, ladies!

Follow Legacy on Twitter! Go to twitter[dot]com[slash]LegacyFF and check it out!

* * *

**Chapter 19: The Odyssey**

I could deal with living poor. I was used to being poor. Honestly, it was the only thing I had ever known. What I wasn't used to was my real parents and their love for me. I was supposed to love two people who I couldn't bring myself to love while my heart yearned to be with two criminals.

Fuckin' A. God damn it. I am one stupid fuck. At my self-revelation that I still loved Liz and Peter, I searched the box and found it empty. Shit, Emmett had to use one of the mugs as a demonstration! I picked up the box and threw it to the ground. Unsatisfied, I kicked it toward the house.

Eh, that was a little better.

Why the hell couldn't our hearts and brains come equipped with a switch? It'd make all this shit so much easier. I could just stop the feelings I had for Liz and Peter and redirect them to Carlisle and Esme. Who the hell was I kidding? I wasn't a damn robot.

I snatched the broom and dust pan from the back of the Jeep and attempted to clean the mess of broken dishes. Needless to say, a broom didn't work too well on the snow. There were some larger chunks of broken dishes lying on the ground. I found myself picking them up and throwing them back at the house, breaking them into even smaller, harder to pick up pieces. It wasn't my brightest moment.

I was aggravated with myself because I couldn't stop loving the two people I had loved the most for my entire life. Since I didn't have any dishes left, I felt like screaming but I heard footsteps around the front of the house. Emmett came back just as I had started to use the dust pan like a shovel, emptying the contents into the large plastic bag which I had lined with the box from the dishes.

"Next time, you should probably try to get a larger set of dishes," I told him, trying not too get too much snow onto the dust pan.

"Will do," he said. "Sorry, I thought the snow would be packed harder or have ice on top of it. The broom doesn't work in this case."

"Yeah, I figured that one out on my own." I waved the dust pan at him. "Thanks for the therapy."

"How does it go? A broom and dust pan. Ten dollars. A sixteen piece set of dinnerware. Twenty-eight dollars," he said, smiling. "Therapy for my brother so that he might feel better? Priceless."

I finished shoveling the bits and pieces of the dinnerware set into the plastic bag with a minimal amount of snow.

"I want to show you the view from the front," he said, motioning his head to the house. I followed Emmett as he led the way around to the front. The front entrance of the house had a large deck, and there was covered furniture littering the one corner. The view from the deck was spectacular.

"Is that Port Angeles down there?" I asked.

"Yup, from here it looks kind of, well, pretty I guess."

Down in the distance Port Angeles buzzed. But Port A wasn't the best part of the view. "The sky is amazing up here."

"It is," Emmett said. "I wish we could stay longer and you could see the sunset. The sunrise is just as great up here. We should get going though." He sounded sad over the thought of leaving Cullen Mountain. "I don't have cell service all the way up here and Carlisle and Esme are probably wondering where we are."

Emmett took one more look out into the distance before turning to leave. I turned and followed, walking next to him. Without saying anything, he wrapped an arm around my shoulders and held me close to him as we walked toward the Jeep. As we neared the Jeep, Emmett let go of me and we both jumped into our respective seats. He started up his baby and we were on our way, back down the mountain and on our way to… our family.

I swear, I will get used to this shit one day. Some day. Just don't ask me to give you an exact date.

"Emmett, why do you refer to them Carlisle and Esme?" I asked curiously.

"I don't know, really," Emmett confessed. "I thought since you can't bring yourself to call them Mom and Dad, it might help if I didn't refer to them that way around you."

"Honestly, I figured as much."

"You're a smart boy, Eddie," Emmett said sarcastically. "I knew you'd catch on."

"Do you think it'd be okay if I called Bella and asked her to come over later?"

"I'm sure that'd be fine," he said. "In fact, I'm betting that Bella is worried and maybe a bit annoyed that you haven't called her. Then again, that's my fault, now isn't it?"

"Sleep also had a lot to do with it, too. Let me know when you have cell service again." I reached into the back of the Jeep and grabbed the bag that held the newspapers. I took a brief look through each of them. They didn't offer much information that I already knew—I was kidnapped when I was two days old. I wanted to know why. Why did Peter and Liz take me? How could they dare do that to someone? Agitated, I stuffed the papers back into the bag and threw them into the back seat. Surprisingly, Emmett didn't say anything to me. I sat there in the passenger seat for a few minutes, stewing in annoyance.

"Emmett, do something," I asked him. "Make me laugh or something."

"I never told you I like to try to rap, did I?"

I glanced at him and laughed. "White boys don't rap."

"Ever heard of Eminem?"

"That boy is a black man trapped in a white man's body," I noted. "Let me hear it."

"I'm not very good," Emmett admitted. "Gimme a few seconds to think of something."

He didn't realize that he had cheered me up by telling me that he liked to rap. That alone was funny to me, and hell, it made my frown turn upside down. I waited impatiently for his mad skills to appear. "Some day before I grow old, bro," I said anxiously.

"Okay, okay, this is gonna suck, but here you go." He paused and cleared his throat before continuing.

"_My name's Emmett and I really like Rose_

_She's a firecracker in her little black net hose_

_She plays with my engine not the radio_

_Today I saw her sprockets and I thought I would blow_

_She's freaky like that, a real live wire_

_I want to drink her in like a vampire_

_Yo, Edward... he plays the quiet game_

_But now it's my turn to tell you more than his name_

_Edward isn't a stupid shit what can I say_

_I'm sweet like that on my rapper off days_

_So here goes nothing you great big hag_

_It's about Bella since you're such a nag_

_She's under his skin, tellin' ya what to do_

_You're messed up inside and outside turnin' blue_

_You need each other—I know she's the one_

_I tell you brother, your hearts long gone_

_Edward you little punk_

_You ransomed your heart and my rhyming stunk"_

"What? You saw Rose's sprockets and you didn't tell me??? You're supposed to tell me those things, man!"

"No!" He practically screamed his response. "It just rhymed! We ain't done nothing like that yet." Emmett threw his phone at me as he made the turn from the private road of the mountain onto the public road. "I should have a signal now."

"You didn't do too badly with your rapping skills," I confessed. "Though, yeah, over all, it was way lame. How'd you know that Bella has me turnin' blue?"

"I'm a man, hello!" He shook his head at me. "Like I ain't never been blue? Hello, look at who _I'm dating_! Call Bella and I'll see if I can come up with something better."

Bella answered on the third ring, and she seemed surprised to hear my voice. When she asked me how I was, I told her that I was fine and asked if she could come to the house later for a visit.

"Ask her to come over for dinner, moron," Emmett instructed.

I tried to cover the mouthpiece with my hand. "I thought you were supposed to be thinking of a new rap?"

In my ear, I could hear Bella laugh. "Emmett's trying to rap again?"

"Very unsuccessfully might I add."

"He's good for a laugh, that's for sure," she said. "I'm sure you could use that though."

"You're telling me. When you come over, can you bring a funny movie to watch?"

"I can do that."

Our conversation had started to become littered with static and other interference. I reluctantly said good-bye, hung up and handed the phone back to Emmett.

"Mad Rapper Boy," I said. "You're up."

"Okay, okay, I don't know if this one is any better," he admitted and then started with his mad rhyme.

"_Ahem, hit me!_

Yo, I got 99 problems but a bro ain't one  
Cause... guess who's back, back again, Edward's back, tell a friend.  
Guess who's back, guess who's back, guess who's back…

Hide out!  
We've created some Carrie's  
Cause no one wants that Staysa, she's mad scary  
Or the cousins, now shit's getting heavy,  
Cause now that they're related, they should really like Eddie

But they're gonna have to find anotha fella,  
Cause bro's got my Bella  
And she'll fight them and she won't be nice  
Cause she'll kick them in the shins so hard they'll need ice

And Jasper, he's a target too  
Staysa's part bloodhound  
So he's easily found  
But he has Alice,  
And she'll attack with some malice

Mary's my baby sis and I taught her well,  
She can kick some stalker ass just like Bell  
So I wouldn't mess with her though she's a midget  
But I'm far from it and that's cause I'm Emmett.

That's my name and I don't go by Dale  
If I did, I def wouldn't have Miss Rosalie Hale.  
Even with my legacy and all the fame  
I know she'd stay away and she'd call me lame

If I didn't have her, or you guys—my buddies  
My whole life would be oh so cruddy  
Now I have you too, little brother  
And I wouldn't ask for another  
You can come to me for anything  
And you know I'm a hugger."

I had started laughing before the final words were even out of his mouth. "I have to admit it—that was better!"

"You think so?"

"I'm being honest with you Vanilla Eminem Ice."

The drive home went faster than I thought it would. Emmett kept my mind occupied, and we talked the entire way back. I didn't know what it was exactly about Emmett that made me so comfortable and relaxed. When I was with him he'd eventually make me feel as if I didn't have a worry in the world, when in fact, I knew I had several.

He was my rock.

When we arrived at the house Emmett stopped at the end of the driveway, and I threw the plastic bag with the broken dishes into the garbage cans. Evidently garbage pick up was the next morning, and it was Emmett's task to take out the trash. Not knowing what time we'd be back, someone else must have done it for him. As we walked into the house, the aroma of Esme's cooking overcame me. Damn, how the hell could I be hungry again already? At the sound of the door opening, Esme turned around from her place in the kitchen and smiled at us.

"Hello, boys," she said sweetly. "How did everything go?"

"Good," Emmett offered. "I took Edward to Chinook and Outfitters. Then we went to the high school and let off some steam by playing some basketball."

Wait, what? He just lied to his—our mother! What the hell?

"More like I stood around while you threw the ball over my head and toward the basket." Neither of us appeared to be sweaty. One of…our parents—see, I'm trying—was bound to be smart enough to figure out that we didn't play a full on contact game of basketball. "Esme, I hope it's okay with you that I invited Bella over for dinner? If it's not, I can always call her back and make up an excuse."

"Nonsense, Edward," she said. "Bella is welcome here anytime. You should know that by now from past experience."

"I just wanted to make sure because I was never the one to invite her before," I explained. It was always Emmett, Alice, or Esme that asked her to stay for dinner. It wasn't my place before, and it didn't feel like it was my place now.

"Bella's like the sixth, seventh, or eighth member of our family," Emmett said. "Oh, my God, now that I've worded it like that, for the first time dating Rose feels kind of incestuous!"

"Well, you can thank you sister Rose for taking out the garbage for you." Esme joked. Emmett just shook his head.

"I'm going to go up to my room."

"Dinner will be done in about an hour, dear." I started to turn to leave when I heard Esme's voice call out my name. "Oh, Edward? Your fa—um, Carlisle set up a TV and DVD player in your room for you."

"Cool, thanks for letting me know," I said, punching Emmett in the arm. "See ya at dinner, bro."

"Make sure you get your butt down to the table or I'll eat your portion."

"You wouldn't do such a thing, Emmy-kins," I laughed and hurried my movements at Emmett's horrified expression.

Reaching the second floor landing, I heard noises coming from Carlisle's study. I decided to see if it was him so I could thank him for the TV and DVD set up in my room. Knocking on the partially open door, I heard him grant me permission to enter from the other side. When he saw me in the doorway, his blue-green eyes lit up but he wasn't as annoying about his display as Esme. She drove me absolutely bonkers every time her eyes landed on me. I wanted to hide behind something, like a shield, so I couldn't feel her intense stares aimed at me.

"Everything okay, Edward?" he asked curiously from behind his desk.

Stepping into the study, I closed the door behind me and nervously leaned against it. "Um, yeah, Esme said that you set up a TV and DVD in my room and I just wanted to say thanks for doing that."

"Not a problem, son." He caught himself and flinched at his own words. "Sorry, it slipped," he apologized.

"Yeah, um," I gulped and scratched the back of my head. "Can I ask you a question?"

Carlisle closed the large ledger that was in front of him and moved it aside. "Please, come in and make yourself comfortable," he said, motioning to the plush-looking office chair next to his desk.

As I moved forward, it felt like my feet were weighed down. When I finally made it across the room, I flopped down into the chair and a gasp of air escaped from my lungs. "How did you know? I mean, how did you find out I was… yours?"

Carlisle seemed to be surprised that I was asking such a question. I didn't think it was that odd, considering the circumstances, to want to know how this all came about.

"Esme knew," he said simply.

"How did she know, though?"

"To tell you the truth, at first, I don't know," he said. "She must have paid you far more attention than I did. At Halloween, after she dropped the bowl of candy, she wanted me to do something. I told her that we couldn't do anything based on the fact that you moved a lot, you have the same eye and hair color as my father, your name was almost identical, and the fact that you're a gifted piano player like Esme."

"Right, Emmett said the piano in the living room was Esme's," I said. "And my interest in medicine, like you."

"It wasn't until after you had cut yourself the day after Halloween that I knew I had to find out if Esme was right or not," he explained. "I know you didn't mean to cut yourself, but it was so perfectly timed. I rescued one of the bloody paper towels from the garbage and took it to the lab after I dropped you off. After what you told me in the car, about your love for science and medicine, I also began to wonder if Esme was correct or if her imagination was simply on overdrive. I was severely worried about her mental state for a while."

"I'm sorry," I said.

"It's not your fault, Edward." He looked down at the floor and then back up to me. "The damn tests took so long to complete. If it was up to me, your life wouldn't have changed so dramatically. I knew everyone was looking forward to the dance and having a good time. The bad timing can be blamed on the LAPD."

"I knew Ford was a jackass." Carlisle looked at me with confusion. "He's the LAPD officer that was there with McCann."

"We also had to secure emergency custody of you in case Peter and Liz had any family members that might've tried to fight for custody."

"Far as I know, neither of them has anyone but each other," I explained sadly. "I don't ever remember meeting any relatives. But, sh—you know what? Do you think it was because they were running, scared, and never contacted them?"

Carlisle shrugged his shoulders. "Could be. What I've been wondering is why didn't they leave Forks when they learned you were friends with members of a family named Cullen? Why did they decide to stay?"

"Dad," I cleared my throat and looked down at the carpet, "I mean, Peter wanted to leave but Liz wanted to stay. I overheard them arguing one night from outside of the house. Emmett did too."

"That's peculiar." Carlisle stared at his hands.

"What is it, Carlisle?" I asked.

"Liz is a wreck and has been sedated." I gasped at his confession. I couldn't imagine my own… Liz Masen so distraught that she needed to be knocked out with drugs. "She keeps claiming that she doesn't know anything about a kidnapping."

"What about Peter?" I asked.

"I haven't heard anything," he said. When my brow raised itself in a questioning manner, he went on to explain more. "I'm frequently called to help with medical situations at the police station. An uninformed officer called this morning and told me what was going on, but I had to decline my services and refer him to one of my colleagues."

"What's going to happen to them?"

"In all likelihood, they will both be serving time in prison for kidnapping," he admitted.

"I know this may seem stupid of me to ask, but is there anyway that the system can go easy on them?" Carlisle didn't flinch or get angry like I expected him to. If I had been asking the same thing of Esme, I'm sure she would have flipped out by now. "I know and understand what they did was wrong. They took me from you. I get that. But they didn't hurt me, not one bit. I wasn't abused by them. They treated me as their own and loved me like their son."

"And you love them." It was obviously a statement, not a question, because he used the present tense, not the past.

"I'm sorry." I leaned my head back against the chair and my eyes squinted shut so the tears wouldn't fall.

"Edward, it's okay." His voice was closer to me. I blinked a few times and when I dared to open my eyes, I found that he had moved his chair and was now directly facing me.

"No, don't you see that it's not?"

"You're human, Edward." Leaning toward me, Carlisle slowly and gently placed his hand on my forearm. "You're my son and I love you, but I know that you can't return those feelings at this time. Who's to say if you ever will? I will be here for you if you need me and I'm ecstatic to have you back with us where you belong. I know you're upset about everything that has happened. I don't blame you one bit because it's a hell of a lot to take in. I also don't happen to care if you need to call me by my name."

I sat there silent, amazed that he wasn't freaking out on me and demanding my immediate love and affection.

"Edward, breathe or you're going to turn blue."

Damn it, I hadn't even realized I had been holding my breath. I opened my mouth and gasped for air. "Sorry," I said.

"Stop apologizing for everything."

"Sor—duh."

"Listen Edward, I'll take what you're able to offer me, even if it's friendship instead of a more parental role in your life."

"I may be able to work on the friendship thing quicker than the parental unit deal," I said honestly. "Can you please talk to Esme though? It hasn't even been twenty-four hours and she's, um, how do I say this politely?" I scratched the back of my head in trepidation. How the hell did you tell your father that your mother was going to drive you insane?

"Annoying the hell out of you?" he offered.

I nodded my head. "That'd do it."

"Damn," he cursed quietly. "I tried talking to her last night. I've been afraid of this. If she starts to come on too strong and it's becomes too much for you, just walk away, okay? In the meantime, I'll try to talk to her again, though I can't promise you what good it will do."

"Thanks for the help, I appreciate it."

"That's what I'm here for," he said with a smile and let go of my forearm. "How'd things with Emmett go today?"

"In both Chinook and Outfitters there were reporters," I said. "And then another one of 'em followed us, but I called Charlie and he sent a squad car and it stopped 'em."

"Good, good, no one hassled you directly though?"

"No, I'm sure they took pictures out of their tiny camera in their tie or something," I said. "All we did was shop for a razor and sneakers for me. Ooooh, exciting, controversial stuff there."

"Quite frankly, I'm surprised Emmett didn't go and try to buy condoms or a pregnancy test."

I laughed. "Ooh, good one! With your permission, maybe we'll do that next time."

"Throw in some KY, too."

"Okay, let's steer the conversation another way, please!"

"I'm glad to see that you still have your sense of humor, Edward," Carlisle said seriously. "I thought Emmett would've had to literally drag you out of your room today."

"I look at it this way, I have to keep my sense of humor or I'll go fuckin' insane." I quickly slapped my hand over my mouth at my mistake and heard Carlisle laughing heartily.

"You have met Emmett, right?" Carlisle asked. "You act as if I've never heard a curse word slip out of his mouth. Really, it seems like that boy has no filter sometimes. In fact, when he was younger I often wondered if he had Tourette's."

"I tend to have a mouth on me, but I've always tried not to say anything more than hell or damn in front of adults," I admitted. "Most will give you a dirty look if you say anything stronger even if they say the words themselves."

"Yeah, Esme doesn't like cursing but she can have a mouth on her when she's pissed." He shuddered.

"Esme's a little firecracker, huh? I'll remember that," I smiled at him. It was getting easier to talk to Carlisle now that I knew he wasn't going to push me. "I'd better stop bothering you and leave you alone." I got up from the chair and stood, and Carlisle followed suit.

"You weren't bothering me, Edward," he said. "It was rather nice to sit down and talk with you. Don't be a stranger, okay? You can talk to me anytime. I want you to feel comfortable here. Remember, this is your home now."

"My motto of the day seems to be 'I'm trying'." I confessed. "At times, it's harder than others."

"That's completely understandable."

As I made my way to the door, my eye caught sight of some titles on the huge book shelves that lined the walls. I paused and read the titles of _Don Quixote_, _Pride and Prejudice_, _Crime and Punishment_, _The Trial_, _Walden_, _City of God_, _The Prince_, _Utopia_, _The Odyssey_, compilations of Greek mythology and Edgar Alan Poe poems.

It was all shit I had read, wanted to read again, or was interested in reading. Who the hell needed to visit a library when you had Carlisle's study?

"You've got quite a selection here, Carlisle."

"You like to read, Edward?"

"Yes, I guess I've always liked to escape to the pages of a book," I explained stupidly.

"I completely agree. By all means, feel free to borrow anything," he said from behind his desk. "I only ask that you try to keep the books in the same condition and don't remove any of my medical journals from the house."

I swung around to face him. "Medical journals?"

"They're over there." He pointed to the opposite wall. "I know you're interested in medicine, so feel free."

I went over and perused the medical journals while Carlisle settled down into his chair and back to whatever he was doing. For some odd reason, it made total sense to me that I decided to borrow the medical journal on the heart. On the other side of the room, I grabbed _The Odyssey_.

Opening the door, I stopped halfway out of it. "Thanks for everything, Carlisle."

He glanced up at me from his desk. "No problem, Edward. Enjoy the books."

"I'm sure I will."

Closing the door to the study, I turned and headed to the third floor where my bedroom was. Before I reached my door, I noticed that it was slightly ajar. I was sure I had closed it all the way when I had left earlier. Slowly, I walked in and found a magnificent sight on my bed.

Bella was lying on her stomach facing away from me, with the headphones to her iPod that Alice had given to her for her birthday this past September two weeks before I had arrived in Forks tucked securely in her ears. I quietly entered the room, closed the door, and placed the books down on the floor. She didn't even know I was in the room until my knee hit the bed and she turned her head in the direction of where my weight was placed. I angled my body so that she couldn't quite see me and then stretched out over her form, hovering only inches above her.

She plucked the headphones off of her ears, turned her head sideways, and smiled. Moving her hair to the side, I bent down and placed a kiss on the back of her neck.

"You shouldn't be doing that," she said. "I have a boyfriend and he might be very mad at you."

"I'll kick his ass."

"I'd like to see that," Bella laughed. "It'd be almost as funny as Emmett's rapping."

"Turn around, please, love," I asked.

Bella shifted and turned under me, arranging herself so that my body was between her legs. I lay down on top of her, my head buried in her chocolate brown hair at her shoulder. Her arms came around me and wrapped themselves securely to me.

"Thank you."

"For what?" she asked in confusion.

"For still being you." I shifted slightly to my left and lay on my side to remove the bulk of my weight from her body. "For coming over for dinner. For the hug."

Bella reached up to my face, wiped hair away from my forehead, and pressed her lips there. She then took my hand that had been at her waist and took it into hers. I gently squeezed it while Bella's other hand crept up my back and her fingers laced themselves through my hair. We lay together like that on my bed in silence for a few minutes. Bella's fingers massaged my scalp and tugged at my hair.

"Do you know that is somehow comforting but yet a complete and total turn on at the same time?" I asked her.

"Only you, Edward." She suppressed a giggle.

"No, I'm sure there are other horny teenage boys that'd feel the same way. You just haven't met them yet."

She pressed her lips against my forehead again. "I don't want to meet them."

"Good, I'm glad."

For a few minutes, my mind was calm as well as my body. It was a wonderful feeling. I didn't have a zillion thoughts racing back and forth, lighting up my mind into a tightly wound ball of confusion.

A quiet knock on the door broke the silence. "Are you decent?" Alice's voice rang out from the other side.

"Of course, Midg!"

Opening the door a crack, she peeked in and threw something at the bed. The package hit the end of the bed and ricocheted down to the floor. "Some underwear of your own, Eddie, and dinner is almost done, guys. Get your asses downstairs."

"Thanks, Midg!" She closed the door and I groaned into Bella's neck. "I don't wanna go."

"I'll be right there, sitting across from you as I normally do."

Sighing, I sat up and searched for the underwear that Alice had thrown into my room. I picked up the package to examine it and sat at the end of the bed. It was a package of plain, black boxer briefs and so not an Alice-like purchase. Jasper must have had some input during their trip. "But grabbing for Emmett's big and burly hand under the table for support isn't the same as reaching out for you."

I found Bella sitting next to me. She took the package of underwear from me and looked at it quickly. "I'd like to see your skinny little ass in nothing but boxer briefs." She threw the package across the room where it hit the dresser, bounced off of it and landed on the floor nearby. I practically lunged myself at her, hugging myself close to her and for once, it wasn't because of her comment or because I was a typical horny teenager. "You'll be fine, you can do it. Emmett and I will be right there."

"If I walk out in the middle of dinner, don't be surprised," I warned her. "Carlisle said it was okay if I did that." I untangled myself from her and stood up.

"Put on your brave face, your big boy pants, and let's go downstairs for dinner," she said.

"I wasn't aware that I wasn't wearing pants."

"It's a figure of speech, silly."

"I know, I know, come on, let's get din din over with," I said unenthusiastically. "So we can get the fuck back up here. Did you bring something funny to watch for later?"

"I brought _Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back_ and the _Clerks_ cartoons." Bella led the way out of my room and into the hallway. "Nothing like a little raunchy Kevin Smith humor to cheer you up."

"Or you in a skirt."

"Oh, Edward."

"Oh, Bella."

Dinner was…weird, awkward, difficult, perplexing…I could go on and on and on. I sat in my usual spot, in the middle of the table with Emmett to my right and Jasper to my left. It was the same way we always sat since the first time I had dinner at the house. But it wasn't the same. Instead of being a dinner guest, I was a part of the family. I was a Cullen and I belonged here—at least in theory—but I was still trying to get used to that.

I could feel Esme's eyes on me the entire damn time. Once, Alice caught wind of what was going on and I heard her say, "Mom, quit it," but Esme continued. Emmett and Jasper tried to keep some kind of conversation flowing, but their kind gesture failed miserably. Halfway through dinner, Emmett wordlessly got up and switched seats with me, partially blocking Esme from ogling me.

Carlisle gave Esme a glare of his own before leaning toward me and whispering. "I meant what I said before. You can leave if it'd make you more comfortable. Feel free to finish your dinner upstairs."

"That'd be very rude of me," I said.

"Staring is very rude, too."

He almost made me laugh over his chiding of Esme. "I'll try to at least finish dinner."

I did finish dinner—barely—and then hightailed it up to my room without taking my plate into the kitchen. I had been pacing in my room when Bella came in and I practically threw myself into her arms.

"I'm sorry that was so hard for you," she said barely above a whisper.

I let her go and catapulted myself face down onto my bed. "Where the fuck is a set of dishes when I need them?"

"What the hell are you talking about?" Bella sat down on the bed next to me. "Is that code for something?"

"Never mind, don't worry about it." If Bella didn't know about Emmett's dish throwing practice, I wasn't going to be the one to tell her all about it. It was something to be kept between myself and my brother.

Even though I had a couch in my room, I had taken my bed and moved it so that the longer side was up against the wall. Carlisle had brought in a small TV stand—small for what appeared to be a thirty-six inch flat screen television—that he put the TV and DVD player on. The rest of the gang came upstairs with enough strawberry shortcake dessert for all of us. We ate quietly and then the girls took our dishes back downstairs for us.

Oh, how badly I wanted to throw my plate up against the wall instead of handing it over to Bella.

"Do you need more dish therapy?" Emmett asked. "You looked at that plate like I look at food."

"Maybe," I said. "Or perhaps a drink. Or cigarettes."

"You can't do those last two things legally. I can buy another set of dishes tomorrow."

"Oh, you did introduce Eddie to dish therapy?" Jasper asked.

"Yeah, he needed it. We went up to the cabin yesterday, but no one else knows."

"Don't worry, I won't say anything," Jasper said. "I invented dish therapy and showed it to Emmett, you know that Eddie?"

"Really?" I thought that dish therapy was Emmett's idea. "It's brilliant, Jazz."

"Don't get a big head!" Emmett said. "I would have thought of it eventually."

The girls chose that time to come back, so the three of us clammed up. We crowded onto my bed and popped in _Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back._ Bella sat in front of me, in between my legs. Alice was to my right, leaning her head against my shoulder. Emmett was on my left, sitting closer than he normally would have. Jasper and Rose each sat next to their respective… mate… date... whatever. They were right there too. I was so surrounded by people that it felt like I was in a protective cocoon or something. All I needed was someone sitting me, spooning me. I was sure that if Esme was in the room, she would have volunteered for the position.

For a little over an hour and a half, I was able to escape and laugh. Once the movie was over, everyone but Bella excused themselves. It seemed as if we had some weird living arrangements going on at Casa de Cullen. Jasper and Rose more or less lived here, stored their things in the spare room, but basically slept in Alice's and Emmett's rooms. I found it odd that Carlisle and Esme knew it too. I thought Jasper and Rose would be sneaking out of their room after Carlisle and Esme had fallen asleep, but they didn't put on any false pretenses.

We were sitting on my bed and watching the _Clerks_ cartoons. I was sitting the way I had been during the movie—with my back was against the wall and Bella in between my legs. Without everyone else in the room, she leaned further back into me and my chin rested on her shoulder.

"Bella, do you think you could stay the night?" I wrapped my arms tighter around her middle and moved my forehead to her shoulder, rubbing it lightly back and forth over her hair.

"I can if you want me to."

"Charlie won't get mad or anything? He won't be knocking down the front door with a shot gun clutched in his hands at three in the morning asking where you are or anything?"

"No," she said. "If I tell him I'm coming over here and I don't show up back home, he knows I'm staying over." She shifted and we changed positions slightly so that she was sitting sideways on my lap. "I guess it was in the back of my mind that you might want me to stay. I wasn't sure, but I brought an overnight bag just in case. It's in your bathroom."

"I always knew that you were a smart girl."

"Yes, yes I am." She looked up at me and smiled. I bent down and kissed her on the lips. That one innocent kiss turned into a very lovely twenty minute make out session.

I wanted to stop thinking about all the bad shit going on in my life. During those twenty minutes with Bella, I wasn't thinking at all. Okay, I was, but it wasn't about anything family related. It was more along the lines of "Am I doing this right?", "My hand is getting a cramp," "Ooh, was that a moan?", "Should I stick my tongue in her mouth yet?", and "What do I do when I do stick my tongue into her mouth?"

You know, typical paranoid kissing-related shit.

I let Bella use the bathroom first to change and get ready for bed. When she exited the bathroom, I wondered how I was ever going to be able to fall asleep with her next to me. She was wearing a pair of very short pink shorts and a matching tank top.

_Melting… I'm melting… into a big pile of horny goo._

"Okay, Bella, what shall I wear to bed?"

"I told you!" she said. "I'd love to see your skinny little ass in a pair of those boxer briefs."

"Oh, you have _got_ to be kidding me. I am not built like, you know, Emmett or Jasper, if you haven't noticed."

"Yeah, and I'm not skinny, model-like, svelte, and bigger boobed like Rose either."

I frowned at her words. "I like your body just the way it is. You don't need bigger boobs. More than a handful is a waste in my book."

"How do you know I'm not more than a handful?"

I held my hands out in front of me toward her. "Just a good guess." I honked at the air.

"Perv."

"Oh, but I'm _your_ perv." I picked up the package of underwear from the floor. "Are you sure?"

"Go change!" She shooed me away with her hand.

I went into the bathroom and changed and brushed my teeth. Never having slept in the same bed with a girl, I wondered if I should do something else. The cubby in the bathroom was full of towels so I quickly washed and dried my arm pits. It just seemed to be the right thing to do if Bella was going to be lying on against my shirtless shoulder near either of my underarms.

Opening the door just a crack, I caught a glimpse of Bella lying on my bed under the covers. I opened the door farther and leaned against the frame with one hand.

"Do you like what you see?" I asked suggestively.

Bella looked at me and started laughing.

"Geez, thanks a lot!" I crossed my arms over my chest.

"It's not that! It was the pose and tone of your voice. Get over here, hon!" Turning off the bathroom light, I crossed the room and slid in between the covers next to Bella, each of us on our sides and facing each other. "Edward, if I wanted to be with Emmett I would have nabbed him in the sixth grade. I want to be with you, and that's why I'm here with your skinny little ass. Always remember that."

I moved toward her and she closed the distance between us, crushing my lips against hers. I loved the feeling of Bella's fingers roaming along my skin. My hands skimmed the sides of her breast and I knew I had to be correct—she was the perfect size. When we broke apart, our breathing was slightly more labored than before.

"Bella," I said, still slightly out of breath. "I don't know how the fuck I'm going to fall asleep now."

I could feel her lips graze along my bare chest. "We don't _have_ to go to sleep right away."

Her voice sounded naughty. Very naughty. Very, very naughty. Bad Bella!

We continued to test, taste, and tease each other. Our clothes remained on, but our hands roamed each other's bodies, exploring one another. She moved my hand to her breast and let me massage it. When it came to the point that I needed release—or to be shot in the head for letting our petting session go on for as long as it did—I excused myself to the bathroom. Bella offered to help me, but I felt a little weird about letting her jerk me off at that point. Maybe I was old-fashioned. We hadn't been dating for that long, and tonight was the farthest we had ever gone.

I didn't want Bella to think that I expected her to help me get off because I was upset with my life. Comparing her to Pavlov's dogs was not my main agenda tonight. Every time I was upset in the future I didn't want her to jump up and obediently jerk me off. Yeah, no. I wasn't going to do that to Bella. Or her hand.

Call me weird. Call me horny. Call me stupid. Tonight, I'd answer to all three. Just don't call me by my real first name. I'd probably ignore the hell out of you.

I crawled back into bed and curled up next to Bella. Half asleep, she muttered my name and sighed. For the second night in a row, I fell asleep with someone else in my bed. But tonight was far much better than last night because it was Bella's soft form that rested in my arms.

* * *

**A/N:** I thrive on comments, so you know what to do!

Sorry about the kind of _Breaking Dawn_ fade to black fooling around. I'm down right horrible at smut and sexual choreography. I gave you the tools, now let your imagination run wild.


	20. Haunted

**DISCLAIMER:** I'm not claiming to be Stephenie Meyer or VC Andrews.

**A/N:** Many thanks to MelissaTheTwilightFan for Emmett's new rap name. And to the quintuplet crew that checked this over and approved of this chapter--I thank you.

I'm glad that so many of you seemed to love Dish Therapy. I was very surprised by it! Also, I went to the movies this weekend and saw _Slumdog Millionaire_. It is must see! And all you new readers that have set alerts for _Legacy_ but haven't said anything… say something! Writing can be very time consuming and I'm a review whore since I love to know what people think of my story.

Please see A/N at the end.

* * *

**Chapter 20: Haunted**

The next morning I woke before Bella. I lay there in bed next to her, watching her sleep soundly. Watching Bella sleep was something that I could get used to. She looked so beautiful lying there, her shallow breaths and slight rise and fall of her chest moving the covers ever so slightly. All was quiet and peaceful until Bella started to twitch and moan in her sleep. Her movements became more erratic, her moans turned into harsh intelligible whispers, and I became concerned. Should I wake her? Should I continue to let her sleep?

"No, no, stop," she cried, and I knew that I needed to wake her. I had to stop whatever it was that was causing her to cry out.

"Bella, wake up," I said while gently cupping her cheek in my hand. "Wake up. You're having a bad dream, wake up, love."

Her eyes flashed open quickly. I would never forget the look on her face at that moment. Bella was scared out of her mind. She rolled over quickly and sat up, planting her feet firmly on the floor. Resting her elbows on her knees and her head in her hands, I could hear her quietly chanting "He's not Phil," repeatedly to herself.

Fuck, I didn't know what the hell to do. Slowly, I sat up and went to the opposite end of the bed while she chanted her mantra. "Bella," I said. "Tell me what to do. Tell me what you _need_ me to do."

She continued on for another minute before stopping and looking sideways toward me. "I'm sorry," she apologized. "I-I didn't mean to freak out on you."

"This is me you're talking to, remember? Freaking out is all I've done in the last two days."

"I never wanted you to have to see this."

"See what?" I asked. "Bella, who the fuck is Phil and what did he do to you?"

Bella turned her head and stared at the television in front of her. "Phil is my mother's current husband," she sniffed.

I carefully crept my way behind her and to the night stand. Grabbing the box of tissues, I placed them next to her and then sat back down at the end of the bed.

"Thanks," she said, blew her nose, and then threw the tissue into the small trash basket next to the night stand. "I never told you that Charlie isn't my real father, did I?"

I sure as hell didn't see that one coming. "He's not?" I asked, shocked. Bella selected another tissue from the box but didn't use it. She fiddled with it in her hands.

"No, he's not," she said. Bella continued to look straight ahead. "I don't know who the hell my real father is. My mother, Renee, is a bit of a… um, how do I put it? She's my mother and God knows why I love her and everything, but she's a huge flake."

She paused, and I waited for her to continue while she shredded the tissue in her hands into tiny pieces. "Do you want some water? There's a glass in the bathroom, I could get you some."

Bella cleared her throat. "Yes, thank you, Edward."

I went into the bathroom and let the water run for a minute to get cold. When I brought the glass of water into the bedroom, Bella was still in the same spot. I was glad that she hadn't run out of my room and down the stairs. She took the glass from me and sipped at the liquid inside of it before placing it down on the night stand next to her. Still unsure of what I should do, I sat back down at the foot of the bed. I noted that Bella had a new unshredded tissue in her hands.

"I don't know who my biological father is," she said. "Up until I was five years old, I thought Charlie was my real father and he fully acted the role. Renee had a fling with some man and ended up in Forks. My sperm donor ran off once he learned that Renee was pregnant. Renee met Charlie and after they had sex, she tried to pass me off as Charlie's. I think somewhere, deep down, that Charlie knew that I wasn't his but it didn't matter to him. Their marriage disintegrated and Renee moved to Phoenix with me where she met Phil."

Bella paused and took another sip of water before nervously continuing.

"Charlie is listed as my father on my birth certificate and Renee was getting child support from him, so she didn't dare do anything when he insisted on seeing me after their divorce. It was easier to spend the summer with Charlie here in Forks than to stay in Phoenix anyway. Phil was a baseball player in the minor leagues so if I wasn't around, that meant Renee could travel and follow Phil to his games."

Bella's voice was low, and it looked like she was blinking back tears. Once again, the tissue that was in her hands was shredded into tiny pieces. Bella must have finally noticed it too because she turned to the waste basket and threw the tissue remnants out. She had placed her hands on the bed and was firmly grasping at the mattress. "Continue when you're ready," I said.

She sighed but still wouldn't look at me. "I never liked Phil. When I was five… Phil tried to touch me in a way a grown man should never touch a child."

I couldn't help it, but I gasped out loud. "What?"

"And when I told Renee, she didn't believe me." I saw a tear fall down her cheek, and she was now wringing her hands together while her body shook. I could only imagine how it must have felt for Bella's own mother not to believe her. How could a mother do that to her own child? I wanted to reach out and wipe her tears away, but I feared touching her just yet. "When he tried to touch me a second time, I called Charlie since I still thought he was my biological father and told him. He was outraged, flew down to Phoenix, and took me from Renee. Charlie told her that if she tried to fight him that both she and Phil would be locked behind bars—Phil for molesting me and Renee for turning a blind eye to it."

Enraged at a woman I had never met, I stayed still and tried to remain calm. Bella planted her hands on the mattress again. I moved slightly forward and intertwined my fingers with hers.

"Later on, what upset me the most was that my own mother never fought for me. She believed her husband over her own daughter. Renee thought I lied to break them up."

"I bet you felt betrayed by your own mother. She's supposed to protect you…"

"Yes, exactly, though back then betrayal wasn't in my vocabulary," she said. "It was much later, while in a therapy session that Charlie insisted on, that it came to me."

"Do you have nightmares often?"

She shook her head silently. "I don't know why I did this morning. I haven't had a nightmare in a long time."

Bella had more tears streaming down her cheeks. I wanted to bust two sets of dishes—one in Renee's name and one in Phil's. Or better yet, I wanted to find them and have Emmett hold them down while I beat them both to a bloody pulp. "When did you learn that you weren't biologically Charlie's?"

"When I was seven and we had to do a family tree for school," she said. I silently hoped that Renee never had any other children. That woman did not deserve them. "I thought it was odd that Charlie seemed so flustered about the information. That's when he spilled the beans."

"I've just seen Charlie in a whole new light," I said. "That's why he's so over protective of you, isn't it?"

Bella turned and smiled at me. "Pretty much. Emmett too."

"Emmett knows?"

"I had to tell him the truth after what happened in the sixth grade-"

"The bleachers?" I asked, cutting her off.

"Yes, between him feeling like a big brother to me and dealing with what happened with Phil, I couldn't continue to fool around with him under the bleachers."

"Who else knows?"

"You, Emmett, and Charlie," she said, "though, I think Emmett tends to forget sometimes. No one else knows, not even Alice. I'm sure that Emmett didn't tell her. I think if she knew, she wouldn't buy me as many skimpy clothes as she does."

"Does what she buy you make you feel uncomfortable?"

"Sometimes. See, most of the time, I'm okay and my past is in my past," she explained. "Other times, it creeps up on me and I remember and I freak out. I'm slightly insecure like every other teenage girl in America. I wish my thunder thighs were smaller, I wish my ass was smaller, I wish I was taller, and I'm afraid of rejection. I get up my nerve and do something that I normally wouldn't, like when I went over to you in the cafeteria on your first day. I was encouraged, so I went ahead and walked over to you. And, oh my God, when I flashed you here at the house on Halloween. After I did that, I totally wanted to go and dig a hole and hide in it. Short skirts totally aren't me. Truth be told, I'm a t-shirt and jeans girl. Wow, I just rattled on about things unrelated to that bastard Phil."

"On the contrary, I think it all fits together," I said. "Bella, love, your mother rejected you and your stepfather tried to molest you. You're going to have issues with trust. Deep down somewhere you probably think it's your fault, so you don't want to dress provocatively because you don't want the attention because it reminds you of the negative attention that you got from Phil."

"Jesus Christ, were you a psych major in another life?"

"I like to read," I explained. "I'm confused about something though. You were the one who was flirting with me and you didn't seem to be scared about it."

"Some of my braver moments," she admitted. "I had some of my braver moments back when I was flashing you my underwear and grinding against you. If you haven't noticed, I haven't been wearing really short skirts or tops lately. You don't know how much I wanted to throw up after simply talking to you when we weren't even in Bio. I'm always confused about how much is too much. I give myself whiplash."

"I didn't do anything last night that made you uncomfortable, did I? I'm sorry if I did," I said apologetically. What if she had the bad dream because of what we did last night? "If I would have known what happened in your past, we would have never done what we did, and you would have woken up in your own bed back at Charlie's."

"This is why I was nervous about telling you this," she said sadly. Bella wiped her tears from her face with the swipe of her hands. Turning toward me, she took my hands in her tear-dampened ones. "My brain knows you weren't the one to hurt me when I was younger. Now you're going to be nervous about touching me, aren't you?"

"Yes," I said honestly. "Can you blame me? What if I do something that triggers a memory? I don't want to hurt you like that."

"Edward, I need to work through this," she said. "For fuck's sake, the shit happened when I was five and now I'm seventeen. If I don't experience things that might trigger memories, then I'll never completely heal or know how to deal."

"You're rhyming mad like Eminemmett now."

"Oh shit, I did." She laughed and then turned serious. "Please don't change how you've been treating me because of what I told you."

"If I do something that makes you feel uncomfortable, you need to tell me," I said firmly. "Don't go and try to deal with it on your own. Tell me and I'll stop, do you understand?"

"Yes, I understand," she said with a nod of her head. "Can you please just hold me now?"

"Of course, come here."

Bella got up, sat down on my lap, and buried her face in my neck. It was then that she started to cry harder. We sat there, her tears falling on to my bare shoulder, our arms wrapped around one another and I cried with her.

* * *

**A/N:** I am not a psychologist. I am not a psychiatrist. I am not a victim of abuse.

If you have been touched in an inappropriate manner and have not dealt with it, please seek help and talk to someone. If you don't know where to start, Google "help for victims of child abuse" or any variation of that phrase and you will find several links that should give you an idea. Each state and country is probably different and I can't list every single agency to get in touch with. Within the United States, The National Child Abuse Hotline is 1-800-4-A-CHILD.

Start with some Dish Therapy. Talk with a trusted friend. But honestly, if you can, find a professional that can help you. Do something about it. You will not heal and move on if you keep it bottled up inside. **You are not alone and it is not your fault.**


	21. Surviving Life, Legalities & Charlie

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything related to Twilight except the books, my fan art, and soon the DVD.

**A/N:** Sorry this chapter took longer than I wanted it to. I've been in procrastination mode and then for a few days my beta had real issues that came over fan fiction. Sucks when that happens, doesn't it?

_Legacy_ was nominated at the _Lion and Lamb Awards_ for Best Crossover and Best Work in Progress. I don't know who nominated me, but thanks. I know I don't have a chance in hell in winning (especially in the WIP category), but it's great that someone thinks enough of my story to take the time to do that. According to the website, nominating ends on April 2nd, so sometime aftter that voting will begin.

Shout out to neveryoumind for the adorkable comment and Paige and Jaslyn from SBM. You last two need to go read a book and stop rotting your brain with fan fiction!

* * *

**Chapter 21: Surviving Life, Legalities & Charlie**

I continued to hold Bella in my arms until she cried herself back to sleep. Carefully, I placed her back down on my bed. Unsure of what else I should do, I sat there, staring at her for a few moments, and watched her sleep peacefully. I brought the covers up over her, gathered some more clothes that I borrowed from Jasper, and went into the bathroom to take a shower.

Bella's past was something I didn't expect to hear; however, I was glad that she felt comfortable enough to tell me. It was an important bit of information about her life that, no matter how she disliked the fact, still affected her. I didn't know if last night's activities brought on her nightmare, but the thought had crossed my mind. Something we did could have jogged her memory after all. Now I was nervous that if I touched Bella in a certain way that it would trigger something in her mind. I really hoped that she trusted me enough to tell me when and if that ever happened. It wasn't fair for her to try to deal with those feelings on her own. When I was done in the bathroom and opened the door, I found Bella laying down and rubbing her eyes. I went over to her and sat on the edge of the bed.

"Feeling any better?" I asked.

"A little." Bella rubbed her face with both of her hands and removed those little sleep boogers from her eyes. Those suckers weren't sexy, even on her. "Thanks for not running out of your room screaming."

"Um, hello, who spent a few hours in a jail cell with me the other night?"

"Oh, that? Pft," she said with a wave of her hand, like she spent every night comforting someone in a jail cell.

"No, seriously, I'm glad you opened up to me about it," I confessed. "I'd hate to do something that made you feel uncomfortable and not know why. Thanks for having enough trust in me to share your secret."

She grabbed my hand and squeezed it. "Thanks for being so damn understanding."

Yeah, that was me, Mr. Understanding. Mr. Horny. Mr. I-don't-know-what-to-do-with-my-life. Mr. Confused. Mr. Reunited-with-his-family. At least I didn't resemble Mr. Clean.

"Why don't you take a shower and then we'll go downstairs and get something to eat?"

"Yeah, sounds like a plan," she said. "I'm hungry."

I turned on the television and flipped around the channels while I waited for Bella to shower and get ready. Surprisingly, she didn't take as long as I thought she would. I didn't know if she rushed or what, but fifteen minutes later she opened the bathroom door and stepped back into my bedroom wearing a pair of snug fitting jeans and a dark green long sleeved t-shirt.

"Holy crap," I said, turning off the television. "I thought you'd be at least another forty-five minutes in there."

"Doing what?"

"I'll be damned if I know," I said. "What the hell do women do in the bathroom that takes so long?"

Bella leaned across the bathroom doorway and crossed her arms in front of her chest. "Try to make ourselves pretty for the men in our lives."

"You look gorgeous and you took only fifteen minutes, so why the hell would you need another forty-five minutes?" She stood there, staring at me with a slight smile on her face. "What?! What did I do?"

"Nothing," she said. "Everything."

Huh? The female species continued to confuse the hell out of me!

"Edward, I have to ask something of you before we go downstairs."

Once again, Bella seemed nervous. "What is it, love?"

She blushed at my words. "Please try to give Esme a break. I know this is all really weird and awkward for you. Esme has been there for me through the years when my own mother wasn't. She, um, was the one that had to, ahem, explain some things to me before I learned them in school. Can you seriously see _Charlie_ explaining to me what a period is? I know Esme's a great and loving person and if you give her a chance, you'll find that out too."

"I can't see Charlie explaining a period at the end of a sentence," I said. "So I can't see him explaining to you what a menstrual cycle is."

"He'd be so flabbergasted, he'd explode," Bella laughed. "Seriously, will you try with Esme?"

"I am trying," I said. "You don't understand how close I was to Peter and Liz. It's hard for me to stop and redirect those feelings."

"Charlie's not my biological father, but that doesn't mean I stopped loving him when I learned the truth."

I simply nodded. "And now, I need to do the opposite of what you did years ago."

Bella walked over and stood in front of me. "Funny how everything works out, huh? I guess your circumstance is a little different than mine was though. Come on and let's go get something to eat." Grabbing my hand, she dragged me off of my bed, out of my room, and into the hallway.

Bella continued in the lead, holding my hand and leading our path to the first floor. No one seemed to be immediately around, so we started looking through the refrigerator and cabinets, checking out what there was to eat. Being that it was already ten o'clock, we decided on some cereal to tide us over until lunch time.

We were sitting on the stools at the island in the kitchen when Esme appeared. She must have been in the laundry room.

"You're having cereal?" she chastised us. "Let me make you the two of you something."

"Don't worry about it, Esme, we're just munching on something until lunch." I told her. "Where is everyone?"

"Carlisle went into work and Emmett and Alice went with Rose and Jasper to their parents," she said. Esme stood against the counter and watched us eat. "I think they were going to go to Port Angeles to catch a movie. They didn't want to wake you, but you should call them to see where they are if you want to catch them before they leave the Hales."

"I should make dinner for Charlie tonight and spend some time with him," Bella explained. "He's been working a lot, and he's a horrible cook."

"Ketchup sandwiches, still?" Esme asked with amusement.

"Gross, are you serious?" I asked. "Does he literally just put ketchup on bread and eat it?"

Bella laughed between bites of her cereal. "Yes, he does."

"He doesn't know how to fry an egg and make some bacon or something?"

"The last time Charlie Swan tried to cook, the fire department showed up at your house, isn't that right, Bella?" Esme sat down next to me at the kitchen counter, which left Bella on my other side.

"You are correct, Esme." Bella said. "I will not let him live that down either."

"So, Edward, can you fry an egg and make some bacon?" Esme asked curiously.

"Yes, and toast some bread and slap a slice a cheese on that baby and you have yourself a breakfast sandwich."

She patted me on the back. I knew she wanted to do so much more. "Congratulations, you know how to cook more than Charlie."

"I should feel triumphant, but Charlie's not here and I can't gloat and throw it in his face." Bella took our bowls and went to the kitchen sink to wash them out.

"Can you cook anything else, Edward?" Esme asked me. Maybe this was her way of trying to get to know me better.

"Just the man basics, you know?" I said, and they both tried not to laugh at my admission. "Like boxed macaroni and cheese, hot dogs, sandwiches, canned soup, ramen noodles, and grilled cheese. I can boil water without burning a pot! I wouldn't starve, but I'd have a very limited menu selection."

"You'd be bored with it in no time, I bet." Esme suggested. She was trying not to stare as much and, so far, was doing a better job than yesterday.

"Oh, I almost forgot! I can make a mean hamburger!" I started laughing as soon as I finished the sentence, realizing how stupid I sounded.

Bella sat back down next to me. "Esme can make a mean homemade macaroni and cheese. You two should team up and make dinner some night." I wasn't dumb, and I knew what Bella was up to.

"You'd let me invade your kitchen like that?" I asked.

Esme's eyes darted between Bella and me. "Only if Bella makes her mean salad."

"Sounds like it will be one mean meal," I said. "Wait, Charlie can't even make a sandwich with cold cuts?"

"Edward, this is what Charlie is skillful at in the kitchen." Bella got up and went over to the refrigerator. Opening the door, she took out a single can of soda, shut the door, and walked out of the kitchen and into the living room. She flopped down into a chair, grabbed the remote, and turned the channel to a football game. I watched as Bella opened the soda and took a swig of it. "Only imagine this is a beer!" she said, holding the soda over her head and turning in my direction. "That is my father's single skill in the kitchen."

I started laughing so hard I nearly fell off the stool. Resting my head against the counter, I let the laughter wash over me because it felt fucking good.

"He's that bad?" I asked seriously, still trying to regain my regular breathing pattern.

"_Ketchup sandwiches_ remember?" she said. "Your cooking would be considered a gourmet meal over his."

"All this talk about food has me hungry for some real food," I said.

"Let's see what we have that you might like," Esme said, getting up off the stool next to me and making her way to the fridge. "With all the talk about sandwiches, do you want one? There's roast beef, turkey, and cheese-wise we've got provolone and yellow American."

I was more than willing to make myself a sandwich, but Esme insisted on making them for the two of us. We sat at the counter while we ate our sandwiches (I chose roast beef and provolone with lettuce and mayo on wheat bread while Bella opted for turkey and yellow American) and made small talk with Esme. When she wasn't staring, it was fine. It was during those times that she forgot what she was doing and kept her gaze on me that drove me a tad nutso. Our conversation never steered into territory that was too personal either. I wasn't ready to talk to her as freely as I could with Carlisle. I wasn't sure if either one of us could handle that much honesty yet.

I left the house with Bella in her truck, and we stopped at the Thriftway before heading to her house. There were stares and gawkers while we shopped for groceries for Charlie's dinner. I saw Cameron and picked up my last paycheck. He seemed a little befuddled over my situation and what to do with me. While I had previously told Emmett that I wanted to keep my job, I didn't see how I could at this point. Not without going postal on someone and having Charlie locking me up. Everywhere I turned in the store someone's eyes landed on my face and bore into me.

I fucking dealt with that at the house. I knew I was going to have to deal with it at school. I didn't want to have to go to work and deal with it too. Then there was the thought of having to go to work where I had memories of Liz. Everywhere I looked, I had a memory of her. Her presence was everywhere in the store—from the registers at the front to the break room in the back.

I quit.

Cameron did tell me that if I ever needed a job and if there was an opening he'd be happy to hire me back. He even said that he'd give me a good recommendation if I needed one because I was a good, hard worker. Ain't that fuckin' sweet.

I wasn't even sure if I was still able to cash my damn check. It was made out to Edward Masen and, technically, I was no longer Edward Masen even though my identification still said I was. Shit, I had practically just got my license! I was going to have to figure out the legalities of changing my last name and figuring out how to explain that to the DMV. What about my social security number? Shit, mental note: talk to Carlisle again tonight if he was available.

When we reached the house, Bella found a note on the kitchen table from Charlie. He was out fishing with a friend over in La Push and would be home in time for dinner. I helped Bella with some laundry and cleaning even though she told me to sit down and relax. Bella had a load of her clothes in the washer down in the basement and we ended up on the couch in a heated lip lock with our limbs intertwined. I heard Charlie's cruiser pull into the driveway, and we scrambled to straighten our clothing and at least appear that we weren't doing something we shouldn't have been doing even though we were. When Charlie walked in through the front door, Bella was sitting ridiculously close to me (with one of her legs thrown over my lap!) for two people who were trying to appear innocent but had knocked their halos off when they were running their hands through each other's hair in a mad make out frenzy.

Actually, I probably lost my halo down in the basement when I playfully grabbed and rubbed Bella's ass when she was bending over into the washer. Oopsie.

Charlie looked at us suspiciously and I tried to change positions, but Bella wouldn't budge. "How you two doin'?" he asked casually.

"We're good, Charlie," Bella responded, still slightly out of breath.

"Still a Cullen," I said seriously and unsarcastically as I could. Damn it, we must have rolled over onto the remote and changed the channel at some point because there was an infomercial on. I moved slightly, and the channel changed again. Shit, my ass just changed the channel! Charlie's eyes shifted between the television and where we were on the couch.

"What's wrong with the TV?" he asked and then started up the fucking eyebrow dance.

"I don't know, maybe it's going on the fritz," Bella said, not knowing that my talented ass had managed to change the channel. In order to not raise any more suspicion, I tried not to move, which, of course, made my body nervously twitch on its own more than it ever had. The screen went from the infomercial, MTV, TLC, TBS, Hallmark (ooh, _M*A*S*H*_!), NBC-News (hey, was that me?), Home Shopping Network to a scrambled channel that _sounded_ like PlayBoy within thirty seconds.

Charlie walked over to the TV and turned it off after a distorted image of a breast appeared. Two seconds after he pressed the button to turn it off, my ass turned it back on. "What the hell!" he exclaimed in confusion. While his back was turned I quickly got up, flipped the couch cushion up, grabbed the remote, and threw it in Bella's direction as she started laughing hysterically. I fixed the couch cushion and sat back down in a flash before Charlie turned around to see what Bella was laughing about.

"Sorry, Charlie, I must have been sitting on the remote by accident," she explained through her fits of laughter.

"Oh, okay," he sighed. "I'm glad we don't need to get a new TV."

"No, we don't need a new TV." Using the remote, Bella turned the television on and off. "And my big butt didn't break the remote."

"Your butt isn't big!" I said.

Charlie's head whipped around to me, and his eyebrows did the equivalent of the Samba. "Don't be looking at her butt!"

"He's my boyfriend and he can look at my butt all he wants, right Edward?"

"Oh, don't drag me into this!"

"Don't be looking at her butt!" Charlie repeated.

"Hell, he can touch my butt!" Bella said with a raised voice. Dear God, was she trying to get me killed?

Charlie pointed an accusing finger at me. "Don't be touching her butt!"

"I'm not!" I said innocently, even though I had touched Bella's wonderful, curvaceous backside on numerous occasions. For some reason, I had raised both of my hands in the air in an odd attempt to prove my innocence. Like that was going to do me any good.

"Oh, yes you have!" Bella said and then clamped her hand over her mouth.

Shit, I was dead! What would my obituary read? I could see it now _Anthony Edward Cullen (nee Masen), 17, was killed by her girlfriend's father after she admitted that he had touched her ass in the presence of her father, the town's police chief, Charlie Swan. Swan is free on bail after pleading guilty in a temporary insanity plea._

It was easy to see that when Bella got into an argument, she acted before she thought. The timer in the kitchen went off and interrupted our exchange. "What's that for, Bella?" Charlie asked.

"The dryer should be done," she explained. "I did a few loads of laundry."

"Go down to the basement and fold your laundry down there," Charlie said. "Edward and I need to have a talk."

Charlie was sending Bella away so she didn't have to witness my murder. She was scarred enough. My life flashed quickly before my eyes. Fuck, the majority of it was a snooze-fest!

"Oh, I don't know if that's such a great idea," I said nervously. "I'd like to live."

"Bella, go down to the basement," Charlie instructed. "Edward—kitchen."

Bella stomped her foot and headed toward the door near the kitchen that led down to the basement. Charlie turned toward me and nodded in the direction of the kitchen. "It's been lovely knowing you, Bella!" I said while walking to my doom.

Opening the door to the basement steps, Bella yelled at us. "Charlie, don't be too much of an ass, _please_!"

"Ask Carlisle and Esme to bury me near a tree!" I said before Bella closed the door and headed downstairs. I hoped she heard my wishes for my final resting place. The thought of being buried near a tree always appealed to me for some reason. It wasn't like I'd actually know I was there, but it seemed like the perfect spot to spend eternity. Or until some developer bought the land and decided to build a mall and dug up your bones.

When we reached the threshold of the kitchen, Charlie sat down at the table and instructed me to do the same. "What are you intentions toward my daughter?"

Wait… what? I wasn't expecting that. "Huh?"

"I am trying to look out for Bella's best interests, even if she doesn't appreciate it," he explained. "I don't want to see Bella heartbroken by some stupid teenage boy who follows his hormones, talks her into something, and then brags to the entire school about it."

"We're not having sex, if that's what you think."

"Where did she sleep last night at your house?"

It took me a minute to realize that he meant the Cullen house, which was, um, yeah, by extension, my house. "Do you any guns here in the house?"

"Shot gun in my bedroom upstairs," he replied quickly.

"Shit."

"I'll give you a warning and a two minute head start," he said with an uneven smile. What a generous offer; however, I was without a car or a cell phone to call for help. I could make a beeline for the trees and hide in the thick woods. It was my only chance for survival.

"Bella slept in my bed, with me." I cleared my throat. "I told you, we're not having sex," I quickly added.

"Fooling around?"

"Depends on your definition of fooling around," I said and immediately regretted it. "There was kissing, some minor groping, and yes, damn it, my hands have been on Bella's butt. It's nice, but for some reason she thinks her butt and her thighs are too big, which is insane." I was rambling because I was nervous and told Charlie more than he needed to know about our extra-curricular activities. It was easy to imagine him jumping up from the table at any moment and running upstairs to get his shotgun. I needed to change the subject, STAT! "Look, Charlie, Bella told me what happened when she was five."

If Charlie's eyebrows were doing the Samba before, they were doing the Mambo now. "She did?"

"She told me about Renee and Phil and that you basically rescued her from that situation. I think it's real big of you to have raised a daughter that isn't biologically yours because you cared enough to want her to be in a safe environment. When she told me what happened, I wanted to knock their lights out. I know she's Bella's mother, but what the hell kind of woman is Renee that she didn't believe her?" Charlie's expression had softened during my speech. I took that as a good sign. A very good sign.

"She's not who I thought I fell in love with all those years ago."

"Ain't that a bitch."

"Certainly is, Edward." Charlie smirked. "I don't want to see Bella hurt."

"I get that, really I do. We had a talk and I told her that if I did something that made her feel uncomfortable that she needed to tell me. She shouldn't keep it bottled up and hide it from me."

"That's admirable of you."

"She shouldn't have to deal with it on her own."

Charlie gazed out the window for a few seconds before turning his attention back to me. "How many girlfriends have you had before Bella?"

"None," I said honestly. "We were never in one place long enough for me to make friends."

"So, why Bella?"

"Actually, she pursued me at first and I tried to, um, decline her advances," I said. "I got to know her as a friend. Bella's a great girl, she's smart and beautiful. I like that I can actually have an intelligent conversation with her. She's not an empty headed girl." Skepticism was written all over his face. "I'm not one of those guys that are out to hurt a girl on purpose, and I don't want to hurt Bella. And whatever we might or might not end up doing… you know, in _that_ sense, will be because she wants to and not because I pushed her into something, ya know?"

"You're too damn honest for your own good," Charlie said, shaking his head.

I was unsure if he actually liked or disliked my honesty. "Um, thank you?"

"I want Bella to be happy, even if a sarcastic, smart mouthed boy is the one that does it for her."

"Aw, shucks, Charlie." I smiled at him. "Now can we be best buds?"

"Don't press it, kid," he said. "Remember, I own a shot, gun that's right upstairs, and I'm older and can easily forget that I gave you a two minute warning."

"Oh, you wouldn't do that to Bella! You wouldn't do that to your best bud!"

Cue the eyebrow dance of the Salsa. "So now you're suddenly a wheelchair-bound Native American?"

"Say what?"

"Billy is my best friend," Charlie explained. "You… you are someone I have to put up with because of Bella."

"I'll make you love me, but not in the biblical sense."

"That's good, because I prefer the female persuasion," he said.

"Speaking of females, you're way too uptight, Charlie! What's going on with you and Sue? Maybe you need to get horizontal between the sheets, ease up on some of that tension from work and stuff."

"Bella!" He yelled toward the stairs. Maybe I had been too much of a smart ass with Charlie. "Get up here before I _do_ kill him!"

I heard Bella running up the stairs and into the kitchen. "Oh, thank God, there's no blood."

"Not even a scratch," I smiled happily.

"Say goodnight, Edward." Charlie said. "I think it's time for you to go home now."

I called the house, and Carlisle answered and said he'd be right over to pick me up. Bella waited with me out on the front porch while Charlie parked himself on the couch in front of the television. At least that's what he said. It wouldn't have surprised me if he was standing on the other side of the door with his ear pressed against it. At first I thought it'd be better if I glossed over some of the details of my conversation with Charlie. I changed my mind, though, and told Bella the complete truth, which she was a little embarrassed over but appreciated nonetheless.

"You do realize that your lovely ass almost got me killed?"

"My ass is lethal!" Bella swayed her ass back and forth against the railing and made shooting noises. I busted out laughing at her ass gun.

"I'm sure Charlie wanted to kill me!" I told her while trying not to laugh again. "I somehow charmed my way out of death today."

"Don't mind Charlie. He's just being his usual overprotective self. Did you want to borrow my iPod to occupy yourself tomorrow?" Bella asked. Her back was against the support beam and I was standing in front of her, our arms wrapped around each other's waists.

"Nah, don't you take it to school?" I leaned in and placed a quick kiss on her lips. "I should have enough things to keep me occupied at the house."

Bella's fingers played along my lower back, near the waist line of my jeans. "Mrs. King took Paige and Jaslyn's iPods away from them in English."

"Why?" I had never talked to Paige or Jaslyn, but I had heard of them because of Bella. They seemed like nice enough girls, but Bella pulled away and never became too close with them.

"They were caught reading Southern Vampire Mystery fan fiction on their iPods in English."

"Who and what in English?" I asked. Bella had to explain to me what the Southern Vampire novels were, who Sookie Stackhouse was, and the idea of fan fiction.

"People write stories about books?" I asked in amazement. "I bet no one writes fan fiction for Shakespeare."

Bella laughed. "You are so adorkable."

"I'm what?"

"Oh, never you mind."

Carlisle pulled up in his Mercedes, so I gave Bella one last hug and kiss before wishing her a good night. I wanted to talk to Carlisle, but for some reason, I didn't want to do it in the car. When we got back to the house Emmett, Rose, Alice, and Jasper were back from Port Angeles. Rose was in the kitchen helping Esme cook dinner while the rest of us hung out in the living room. It seemed like my life now revolved around food and waiting for it to be served.

"I checked online about the shipments for your clothes earlier today and mostly everything should be here by Tuesday," Alice said. "A few things won't arrive until Wednesday."

"Are you okay with me borrowing more of your clothes?" I asked Jasper. He was sitting on the love seat with Alice in his lap.

"No, I'm not," he said very seriously. "I'd rather you walk around the house in only the boxer briefs Alice picked up yesterday."

"Oh yeah, I'm going to walk around the house showing off my scrawny body."

"That'd be much better than you walking around naked!" Alice said.

Jasper laughed. "I don't care, Edward, borrow what the hell ever you want."

"Thank God for Jasper!" Emmett said from his position on the couch. "Love ya man, but I do not need to see you naked."

"I think you have an irrational fear of being naked around another man," I said. "You don't want to whip it out for the Cheerio dunkin' contest either."

"Emmett doesn't want to whip it out because you probably have an advantage over him. His aim leans to the right," Jasper explained.

"And you'd know this how?" Alice asked before I had a chance to. Emmett had folded his arms across his chest and was staring at Jasper.

"He told me! I don't have any literal first hand proof!" Jasper exclaimed and rolled his eyes at Alice's suggestion. "I've never held it for him or anything."

"You kids talk about the strangest topics." Carlisle added. He had been silently sitting on the couch next to Emmett the entire time. "I should be glad you don't speak of these things at the kitchen table."

"Aim and nakedidity are two subjects that I at least know are off limits at the dinner table," I said. "Your uncouth son over there, I don't know about him."

"Uncouth?" Emmett asked.

I smiled. "Guess that wasn't covered in your _Word of the Day_ calendar. Me thinks I ought to get you a dictionary for Christmas."

"I think he already has one and it's used as a door stop in his room." Carlisle said.

Alice went over to Carlisle and gave him a high five. "Good burn, Dad!" From the expression on his face, I wasn't too sure Carlisle knew what Alice meant. He may be able to put up with us, but Carlisle wasn't up to date with our lingo and he didn't pretend to be.

During dinner I sat in my usual spot and missed Bella not sitting across from me. Esme was much better tonight and didn't stare quite as much. I wasn't sure if I was getting used to her glares or if I was getting better at ignoring her.

The rest of the night seemed to go incredibly and painfully slow. We all sat downstairs in the living room and watched some television shows together. It was all very Rockwellesque again. Carlisle excused himself for the night and, a few minutes later, I did the same. I thought he had gone into their bedroom, but when I reached the second floor, I noticed the door to his study was open and the light was on. Carlisle granted me entrance when I went over and lightly knocked on the door. He was at his desk, glancing at some papers and rubbing his eyes. I knew that he had worked earlier today and looked tired. I felt guilty for interrupting him.

"I'm sorry to bother you so late," I said timidly. "Do you have a few minutes?"

"Of course, have a seat."

I plopped down in the chair next to his desk. "I had a few questions pop up today."

"Okay, I'll try to answer them if I can."

"Bella and I went to the Thriftway today," I explained. "I saw Cameron and he gave me my last paycheck. Yesterday I had told Emmett that I wanted to keep my job, but while we were there I changed my mind. So many people were staring at me the entire time we were there. It was uncomfortable. I quit."

"That's okay," he said. "I know people are going to be staring for a while. Did you want to try to go to school tomorrow or would you rather stay home?"

"I think I'd rather stay home for one more day."

"That's fine."

"Can I even cash my paycheck though? It's made out to Edward Masen and that's not really me."

"Technically, it is for now until your name is legally changed over," Carlisle explained. "I don't know if anyone would give you a hard time since your story has been plastered all over the papers. Why don't you give me your check and I'll cash it?"

"Sounds like a plan." Taking the check out of my back pocket where it had resided since this afternoon, I opened the envelope, took the pen that Carlisle offered me, and signed the back of it. I handed the check over to Carlisle and dug through one of the drawers in the desk. Carlisle took out a small safe, opened it with a key that he retrieved from his pocket and handed me the cash equivalent of my pay.

"I don't know if this is too much to ask, but um, while my last name is being changed, can we just switch my first and middle names since that's what I'm used to? Or do I have to be Anthony Edward?"

"I'll call Percy tomorrow," Carlisle said. "Why go by your middle name if you can go by your first? Edward Anthony Cullen, right?"

"Yeah, I'd appreciate that. What about my social security number and my driver's license?"

"You don't have to do anything yet. Don't get rid of your license. We'll have to go to court and have a hearing to change your name. Usually it's a fairly easy process, but because of the situation, it might be a little more complicated. We also have to make sure your social security number points to you correctly."

It wouldn't be my life is something wasn't a little more complicated, would it? I had to give Carlisle my social security number so Percy could look into that dilemma. It was a good thing that I had memorized the number because I wasn't currently in possession of my card. It was at the Masen house along with my birth certificate and a few other things I really wanted. Shit, I needed to get back into that house.

"Things a little bit better with Esme today?" Carlisle asked.

"Yes, thank you."

"She told me it was brought up that the two of you might team up for dinner one night."

"The subject was brought up," I said.

"I appreciate your effort with Esme and apologize if she's overbearing," Carlisle said apologetically. "I can't blame her, but she's excited to have you back."

"I know, it's just that I'm getting the same thing from everyone."

"I think that's why it'll be a good idea for you to stay home tomorrow. I'll call the school and ask that they send home your work home with Emmett so you don't get too far behind."

"That's a good idea." I couldn't hand in one of my assignments tomorrow anyway because it was in my backpack, which was, of course, still back at the Masen house. "I want to graduate in June and not go to summer school." I noticed how tired Carlisle looked at this point. "I'm sorry, I'm keeping you awake. I'll get going."

He smiled faintly. "No matter how tired I am, I always have time for my children."

"Um, yeah," I said stupidly, not used to being referred to in that way. "Still, I'll let you go. Can't have you hacking into the wrong body part and being sued or something."

Carlisle laughed. "No, we can't have that. Good night, Edward."

I was lying in bed and unable to fall asleep. Staring at the ceiling for no particular reason, I tried to think of why I couldn't fall asleep. The first night I was here, I had cried myself to sleep in Emmett's arms. Last night, Bella was in my bed with me, and we fell asleep after a hormone-fueled make out session. It was quieter here than in town at the Masen house. In town, there were car doors slamming, barking dogs, the guy next door stumbling home late from the bar and his wife screaming at him, and the sound of traffic. Out here the crickets chirped and the owls hooted.

Nature fuckin' sucked right now. People paid for machines to make the kind of noises I couldn't fall asleep to. I flicked on the television and flipped through the channels. The Cullens—wait, fuck, I was a Cullen—we must have had the premium cable package because it seemed as if we had fifteen million channels, but I'll be damned if I could find a single thing of interest to watch.

I was about to give up when there was a knock on my door. "Come in," I said without knowing who it was.

Emmett popped his head inside. "You okay, bro?"

"Yeah, why?"

He stepped inside, closed the door, and leaned against it. "You seemed to leave kind of suddenly before."

"I wanted to talk to Carlisle about some things before he went to sleep," I explained. "There's a lot of legal stuff I didn't think about before."

"Percy will be earning his money with all this."

"That's for sure," I said. "And now, I can't sleep. The first night you were with me. Last night, Bella was with me. To top it off, it's too damn quiet out here."

"Sorry, but I've got a lady waiting in my bedroom for me."

"Lucky bastard."

"That I am," Emmett said with a smile. "If it's noise you need, Jasper snores."

"I don't know if that'd be enough."

"Hug your pillow and imagine it's me."

"Hell no!" I sent my pillow flying in his direction and then he threw it back at me.

"Fine, then imagine it's Bella."

"Far better choice in my book." He was turning to open the door and leave. "Hey, Emmett?"

"Yeah?"

"I know about Bella, she told me and why you protect and look out for her."

He was surprised, I could tell that much. "So what? You think it's just your job now?" he asked.

"No, doofus," I said. "We're on the same page where that's concerned. She's got me too now."

"Good, hurt her and I'll have to kill you."

I laughed, and Emmett looked at me like I was insane. "I think Charlie has first dibs on me. You know, you've got Rose to look after, too."

"I know, but she's pretty damn tough in her own right."

"Bella is too," I admitted.

"I know that," Emmett said. "I trust Jasper with Alice but that still leaves me with Rose, Bella, and now you."

"Me?"

"You're my little brother, aren't I supposed to have your back?"

"Who's supposed to have your back?" I asked.

"I don't know," he said, his brow furrowed. "I never really had anybody."

"I guess that's what I'm here for, doofus."

"Shut it, moron."

"Emmett, why did you lie yesterday to Esme about where we were?" I asked. "You damn well know we weren't playing basketball at the high school."

"They don't need to know where we were," he said simply. It wasn't a good enough explanation for me though.

"Oh? Why not?"

"They just don't need to know." Emmett was trying to side step my question, but at the last second changed his mind. "We don't go up there much. I figured the cabin can be like your safe haven or something. Like our place to go to let off steam...or whatever. I dunno."

"Aw, you want it to be _our place_," I said teasingly. "Ain't that sweet."

"Shut it," he said, opening the door to leave. "Night, moron."

"Night, doofus."

Emmett closed the door behind him, and once again I was alone with only the sounds of nature. I don't know for how long I lay there, praying for my eyelids to become heavy so I could fall asleep. I was tired of having to adjust for so many things in my life and refused to cry myself to sleep. The thought crossed my mind to ask Emmett to pick me up a body pillow while he was in town.

_To be, or not to be, that is the question. Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune or take arms against a sea of troubles, and by opposing end them. To die, to sleep—no more—and by a sleep to say we end the heartache, and the thousand natural shocks that flesh is heir to. Tis a consummation devoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep—to sleep—perchance to dream. Ay, there's the rub! For in that sleep of death what dreams may come, when we have shuffled off this mortal coil. Must give us pause—there's the respect that makes calamity of so long life._

Oh. My. God. I was quoting Shakespeare to myself to try to fall asleep. And I'll be fucked if it _wasn't_ working.

Sometime during the night—or was it early morning?—sleep did finally claim me. Fitfully I slept, dreaming of my past and what might be in my future.

Funny really, because I knew not of what my future held.

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**A/N:** There will be an outtake from this chapter from Charlie's POV. If you haven't done so already, go sign up for _Legacy: Extras & Outtakes_.

Sneak Peak of what I think will be in the next chapter: Edward asks both Emmett and Charlie for a favor. Edward goes back to school and a teacher helps him deal. Edward, Esme, and Bella bond in the kitchen. Edward runs to Alice's side.


	22. Merge Ahead

Many thanks for all the reviews. I try to respond back if I can think of something to say or if you have a question. If I don't respond, it's nothing personal. Y'all should know that I'm a self confessed review whore by now, so review away!

Thanks to my beta Bridget and to Staysa for working out the kinks of with me over one particular paragraph. You are a PITA. Loveyabitch.

**Disclaimer:** I only own the Twilight books and the 3-disc Target DVD. I don't own the _rights_ to the books!

* * *

**Chapter 22: Merge Ahead**

The next morning, I was woken up by Emmett knocking on my door at seven-thirty. For the first time in my life, I thought it was an ungodly hour to wake up. Because I hadn't slept well, I had an overwhelming urge to unplug my alarm clock and hurl it at his face. I could then catapult the garbage can into the air toward him as well.

"Whaaaat?" I asked groggily with the pillow over my head. The light that was trying to invade my eyelids was pure evil.

"Carlisle's heading off to work, Alice, Jazz, Rose, and I are leaving for school soon and Esme's leaving in an hour or so," he explained. "Do you need anything before we leave?"

"Perhaps five hours of my life back last night so I can sleep again."

"Not used to the house, huh?"

"Noooo," I groaned, sounding like a whiney little bitch. I rolled over onto my back and threw an arm over my face. The rare sun light from the window was streaming in right onto my bed this morning. "Too fucking quiet out here!"

"Sorry, I've lived here basically all my life and I'm used to it."

"Can you do me a favor?" I dared to sneak a look at Emmett but had to squint at him. "This may seem like the stupidest thing ever, but can you see if you can find and buy me a body pillow?"

I wasn't sure Emmett knew what I was even talking about. "Um, I'll forward that one on to Alice, kay?" Yup, he had no clue whatsoever what a body pillow was. I wasn't even sure how I knew what one was.

"I appreciate it, man," I said. "Have fun in school."

"Yeah, loads I'm sure," Emmett said, closing the door behind him. "Later!"

Trying to fall back to sleep was useless, so I got up and took a shower. I had one more day of wearing Jasper's current clothes before I would be able to wear my own. They'd be new, but they'd be mine. When I wandered downstairs I found Esme sitting at the kitchen table browsing through the newspaper.

Hearing me enter the first floor, Esme glanced up from the paper. "Oh, gee, Edward, I hate to say this, but you look like hell," Esme said.

I smiled. Or tried to. I think. Maybe. I don't remember. "Thanks. I kind of feel like hell to tell you the truth."

"Rough night?"

I sat down next to her, crossed my arms on the table, and rested my forehead on them. "You could say that. It's incredibly quiet out here. I had a hard time sleeping."

I could feel Esme's fingers in my hair, smoothing it out. A hell of a lot of good that would do. I knew my hair was popping right back up because it was too long and needed to be cut. If I had plenty of sleep I probably would have bolted up and gotten her the hell off of me. However, with my lack of sleep, my "give a fuck" impulse was temporarily disabled to a certain extent.

"Do you want me to make you something for breakfast before I leave?" she asked.

"Whatta ya got?"

"Lots of stuff, just name it."

I mulled that one over for a moment. It was too bad I couldn't order some French toast, eggs, and bacon with a side of less confusion and guilt. I'd take that over a glass of orange juice or milk right about now.

"I liked your French toast the other day," I said, raising my head off of my arms. "I'll take that again."

"Okay, French toast it is," she smiled and got up from the table.

"Can I watch? I don't actually know how to make that."

"Sure," she said. "And you can be in charge of the bacon."

"Deal."

I followed Esme into the kitchen like a lost, half-awake puppy. She showed me how she made French toast. I had no idea that she used a certain type of bread—Challah I think she called it—that she actually let get a little stale, soaked it in an egg, milk, and cinnamon mixture—and put it in the oven after browning it on the stovetop. Think what you will about the slightly unusual process, but the results were delectable.

"So, I was thinking," Esme said.

"That's always good."

Esme laughed. "I wasn't finished."

"Oh, duh, do continue."

"I thought maybe you, Bella, and I could work on that combined dinner tomorrow night."

"Mean Meal Tuesday?" I asked before popping another piece of French toast into my mouth.

"Yes," she said. "I know Mean Meal Monday has a better ring to it, but I've got a long day ahead of me today. I know I'm going to be tired tonight so I just want to make something simple. Oh dear, it might even be a night for take-out, and I really dislike doing that."

"Mean Meal Tuesday it is then," I said. "I need to check your spice rack to see if you have something."

I shoved the last piece of my breakfast into my mouth and took my plate into the kitchen. The spice rack sat on the counter next to the oven. Taking a good look through it, I noted the assortment and then checked on a few things in the refrigerator. "Good to go on that end. I'll just need the hamburger and some Monterrey jack cheese."

"Okay, Chef."

Esme and I made small talk about food and cooking. She asked me if there were any certain foods I liked or disliked more, if there was anything specific that I'd like to learn how to cook, and if I had a sweet tooth. Oddly enough, we were bonding over food.

"I thought you would have paid attention to what I ate when I was here."

"I did," she admitted. "But I didn't know if you ate everything to be polite or if you actually liked everything."

"Nah, you're a good cook," I said. "I don't think there's been anything that hasn't tasted good." Esme smiled right then. For some reason, my little admission made her happy.

Esme left a list on the counter with phone numbers in case I needed to get in touch with her or Carlisle, and she also gave me my own key to the house. She left for work, and then I was by myself. My first thought was to go back to sleep, but by this time I was wide awake. I flopped down on the couch in the living room and flipped through the channels. Of course with all the talk of food, I found the Food Network and decided to watch that for a bit. I ran upstairs and grabbed some paper from Emmett's printer to write down a recipe. It was a breakfast casserole type deal, but it looked really easy to make. I checked to see if all the ingredients were in the house and found that I'd only need two things. Esme would probably call to check in on me. When she did, I would tell her about the recipe and ask if she wanted to me to make it for dinner. Someone would have to swing by the Thriftway for those two ingredients, but I could probably get Emmett to do that after school. She had said that she hated to do take-out during the week. I thought that maybe if I made breakfast for dinner she'd think it was better and more guilt-free than take-out.

After I got bored and annoyed watching Food Network (Rachel Ray is waaaay too freakin' perky for my taste and she needs some downers) I tried to read but just couldn't get concentrate for long enough. Around eleven-thirty I got restless and made myself a sandwich for lunch even though I wasn't particularly hungry. It came to me then to make a phone call.

"Forks Police Department," the female voice on the other end of the phone line said. "How may I direct your call?"

"Chief Charlie Swan, please."

"One moment, please."

That bitch can't tell time because I waited longer than a 'moment'. It was more like a minute and a half before I heard Charlie pick up. "Chief Swan."

"Hello, Chief, it's Edward, um, Cullen."

"Edward? What are you doing calling me here and tying up a phone line?" His voice was full of annoyance. He probably thought I had called to chit chat with him. I wouldn't bother—I knew Charlie wasn't the chit chat type of person.

"I need your help with something, sir."

"Didn't Carlisle and Esme leave emergency numbers for you?"

"Yes, of course they did," I said. "In this situation I need to start with you. I do believe what I need help with would still fall under police jurisdiction, sir."

He sighed over the phone line. "Okay, what is it, kid?"

"I need to get back in the house where I used to live," I explained. "You know, all my personal effects are still in there. I didn't have much, but there are a few of my things I'd really like to have."

Charlie grumbled and muttered something intelligible. Maybe he had a hand over the receiver, I wasn't sure. "Do your parents know about this?" he asked.

I assumed that he meant Carlisle and Esme. "No, and I'd rather they didn't."

"Great." Charlie's voice was distant and mumbled. "Edward," his voice was louder now, "I'll pick you up in a half an hour."

A half an hour later I found that Charlie kept his word. His cruiser pulled up in front of the house, and I ran out to meet him before he changed his mind and raced off. Silently, he turned around and headed back down the long driveway and to the road.

"Thank you, sir, for picking me up," I said, trying to be polite since he was doing me a favor. Today he was the police chief helping me. Yesterday he was my girlfriend's father. They were two distinctly different people in the same body. I was going to try not being such a smart ass with him today. "You could've sent someone else."

"I didn't think it was fair to send anyone else to put up with you."

"Oh, so you wanna deal with me? I told you we'd be best buds."

He shook his head and kept his eyes on the road. "What type of things do you need at the house? I need to catalog everything."

I figured as much and it made me a little nervous. "My back pack, school work, clothes, money, and a library book that's now overdue."

I gulped as Charlie pulled into the driveway, and my eyes landed on the front door.

"_What is wrong with you? I told you, I don't know what you're talking about! Edward, there you are, Edward! Edward!"_

The house seemed too different now. I had stopped referring to it as a home I had lived in. Instead, it was "the Masen house" now. Charlie unlocked the door, led me inside, and I stood in the living room.

"_Why don't you come and watch the game with me, son?_

"_Dad, you know I'm not into sports all that much."_

"_You just say that to get out of spending time with your old man."_

"_Let me know when M*A*S*H* comes on and then I'll bond with you by watching television."_

I quickly headed to my old room and stopped in the doorway.

"_Edward, what's wrong, honey?" _

_Everything._

The big Rubbermaid container was still in the one corner with all my clean clothes, and it also hid my money and letters to the gang. On the wall above my mattress I had tacked the pictures of Bella and me from our trip to Wal-Mart. I removed the tack from the wall, grabbed the strip of pictures, and shoved them between the pages of the overdue library book that was on the floor next to the mattress and then put it in my back pack. I stuffed my back pack as well as my blanket into the container and hurried toward the door before taking a final glance back at the mattress on the floor where I had slept.

"_Does one of us need to have 'The Talk' with you?"_

I decided that I didn't need or have much else in there that'd miss. I had a newer, better alarm clock at the Cul—my house. I hadn't owned any CDs, videos, or books like most kids my age.

I didn't even step into the bathroom. Emmett had taken care of getting me a new razor and other essentials. I didn't need anything in there.

Pausing, I stood in front of Peter and Liz's bedroom. I opened the door slowly, walked in, and went over to Liz's nightstand. On it was a rare posed photograph of the three of us. I remember going to a Wal-Mart in Utah to have it taken when we first moved there. I never understood why Liz wanted to have a fancy photo of us all together. We didn't have anyone else to give any of the other pictures to. Even though she purchased the smallest photo package, there were many photos left over when all she really wanted was the simple eight-by-ten for her night stand.

Quickly and carefully, I emptied out the Rubbermaid container. I laid a pair of jeans on the bottom of it and then the photo in the frame. Then I placed everything back into the container, hoping to keep the photo well hidden from Charlie's eyes. I went over to Peter's night stand and roughly opened the top drawer. Digging through it, I found the envelope that I knew held an emergency stash of money. I would count it later—Charlie could walk in at any moment. My hand brushed something familiar and I stopped.

"_I don't have much to give you, but I want you to have this when you're older. My father gave it to me and I want to pass it on to you."_

I grabbed the pocket watch and quickly walked back over to the Rubbermaid container. Shoving the envelope and watch deep down into one corner, I hoped like hell that Charlie wouldn't find the watch or the photograph. Taking one last look around, I exited the room and placed the container on kitchen table. I went over to the TV stand, knelt down in front of it, and grabbed my baby book and two photo albums out of the cabinet.

"Okay, Charlie, this is it—clothes, money, a blanket, my back pack, photo albums, and my baby book." I prayed he wouldn't have to empty the container onto the table and investigate the contents. He opened the lid and shifted everything around. Lifting the blanket, he spotted the back pack, moved it to the side and saw my clothes. "Is it all clothes after this? Where's the money?"

I shoved my hand into the corner of the container and brought out my money, clumped together in a ball. "Do you need to count it?"

"I better, just in case," he said taking the money from me and started to count it. I put my baby book and the albums into the container. Charlie had to unfold the money and took his time writing on the form that was on the clipboard he had brought. I nervously glanced into the living room.

"_If you're going to poke your eyes out, why do you need the bleach?" _

I shifted back to Charlie and spotted the cordless phone in the kitchen. The other charging base was in the other room. I bought it and didn't have a phone in my bedroom at home, so I wanted it.

"_Oooh, so his girlfriend's name is Bella? I hope she's not a hoochie mama."_

"There's one more thing, Charlie!" I went and disconnected the phone from the wall and wrapped the phone and power cords around the base. "Be right back, the other base is in the other room."

I ran and retrieved it, taking the cord with it also. Placing them in the container, Charlie noted the added contents from the house and then placed the lid back on.

Potential disaster averted.

As I exited the house for what would probably be the final time, I sighed. The last time I walked out of this house I had been with Emmett and we were on the way to the dance. When I had gotten back later that night, Peter was in Charlie's police cruiser and Liz was being hauled outside.

I stopped and leaned against the frame of the doorway, effectively blocking Charlie, who was behind me, from leaving and exhaled.

"_Have a good time with your friends."_

"_Love you guys, see you later."_

"_Love you, too."_

I felt Charlie's hand on my shoulder, urging me forward. He guided me back to his cruiser, and I placed the large container securely in the trunk. The thought flashed through my mind of Charlie pushing me into the trunk and locking me inside of it. I turned around quickly and he was standing there with a weird, maniacal but yet sad look on his face. It was a freaky and odd mixture that I couldn't figure out. I closed the trunk before I could go missing again. No one knew I was with Charlie, and I'd really never be found this time.

Charlie dropped me off back at the house, and I dragged the container up to my room. I cursed the house for having three floors and wished it spread out instead of up. I set the phone with the main base up in my room and was happy to hear a dial tone on the other end. I kept the secondary base in the container because I didn't need it right now. Where was I going to put it? In my bathroom?

I rarely ever talked on the phone. When I did, it was with Bella. I'll be damned if I was going to sit on the toilet, taking a shit, and talking on the phone with her. That seemed so wrong for some reason.

Now, how was I going to explain the phone and clothes to everyone? I could fudge and say my back pack was in Emmett's Jeep or that I had forgotten it in school in all the excitement with the dance. I'd have to slowly blend my old clothes in with my new ones. Alice probably would be the only one to figure out what was happening. Maybe she wouldn't say anything while Carlisle and Esme were around. I'd have to get Emmett to cover for me on the phone. We bought it in Chinook when we were there Saturday and forgot to mention it. Yeah, that's it.

I'd have to hide and keep the rest of my belongings a secret from my family. I hated to do it, but they wouldn't understand why I needed them. Why I couldn't quite let go of everything yet.

I didn't know what else to do in the house. I went and played a game on the Wii, but it wasn't the same without having someone next to me. It was always more fun to be able to glance over at the other players to see how much of an idiot they looked like. Before long, I was bored and jumpy so I grabbed my jacket and went outside to take a walk. I'll be damned if I knew why I decided to do that because it was freezing out. Washington in the winter is fucking colder than a witch's tit—whatever that means. I was careful to note things that would lead me back to the house. The woods in Washington were very boring compared to other states I had lived in. Everything was so fuckin' green, brown, and mossy. I had a very girly thought and realized that I actually missed the color of flowers.

I came across an old tree house that was totally enclosed and was still in pretty good condition. Wooden two-by-fours were nailed into the tree to create steps. Testing them, I found them to be sturdy enough and carefully climbed up into the tree house and through the hatch opening in the floor. Inside there was dust, cobwebs, and spiders from the lack of a constant human presence. It seemed like no one had been here in a while. A faded and ripped poster of a girl in a bikini hung on one of the walls. There were several small shoebox-sized plastic containers on the floor. I picked one up and thought about opening it. _Please don't let anything dead be in there, _I thought as I slowly opened the box_._

When I saw what was inside of the shoebox, I knew this tree house must have belonged to Emmett and Jasper. Who else would have a Playboy up here? While I perused the Playboy, I felt myself grow a little… guilty. No, nothing much down there grew. I was staring at a naked lady that wasn't Bella and I didn't feel much of anything. Okay, okay, I felt a little. I put the Playboy away before I felt more.

I found plastic toy swords, pirate hats, baseball cards, water guns, what I believed to be a very beat up Transformer, He-Man and G.I. Joe action figures, and a Barbie doll with no head. Damn barbarians! What the hell did they do with Barbie's head? He-Man and G.I. Joe probably used it for bowling practice.

In another shoebox I found an old faded picture of Emmett and Jasper wearing birthday hats and Emmett had cake all over his face. I guess he always did like his food. It looked like they were around ten years old or so. On one of the wooden boards they had carved in rather large, uneven words "Emmett + Jasper" and then below it "Best Buds." And for the first time since my life had gotten thrown into upheaval I felt something that I hadn't before.

I was jealous.

I wasn't jealous of Jasper. Even if I had grown up with my family like I was supposed to, I'm sure Jasper still would've been around. I was jealous of the fact that he was here and experienced things with Emmett, _my brother_, which I never did. I couldn't go back to that birthday party and experience it with them. I couldn't go back and relive my childhood to find out how it was supposed to have gone.

They played in this tree house together. The two of them had stolen that Playboy. They played with G.I. Joe and He-Man. The two of them probably ran around in the woods and chased each other with squirt guns. Emmett and Jasper beat up the Transformer so bad that I couldn't tell if it was Optimus Prime, MegaTron, or one of the other ones. They traded and collected baseball cards. They pretended that they were pirates and that the tree house was a boat. They decapitated Barbie—together.

It should have been me. I should have been here with Emmett. Not just Jasper. Me. Emmett, Jasper, and me. It should have been the three of us.

I should've been here to build this tree house with them. I should've been ganged up on and chased through the woods by the two of them, water guns at the ready. I should've been here to argue that I wanted to be Optimus Prime. I should've been the one they tied up and held hostage when they played pirates. I should've been there for Barbie's decapitation surgery.

Emmett was wrong last night when he said he never really had anybody. He always had Jasper.

Tired, cold, and now a tad depressed and angry, I put everything back where it had been and then descended the steps of the tree house. I almost got lost heading back to the house. Luckily, I caught on that I was not going in the right direction and got back tracked. I hadn't noticed it before, but there was a slightly worn path in the woods that led directly to the tree house. Before I reached the clearing that opened up into the back yard, I heard noises coming from the direction of the house. Curious, I quickened my pace and before I burst out from the trees I spotted Esme on the steps to the back porch.

I glanced at my watch. It was now two-thirty and I hadn't expected her home already. Earlier this morning, she had stated that she had a long day ahead of her. I stepped out onto the lawn and started toward Esme. And that's when I realized the strange noises were coming from her. She had her head in her hands, her gaze toward the ground, and she was crying hysterically.

In fact, she was crying so hard that she didn't hear me approach until I spoke. "Esme? What's wrong?"

Her head shot up quickly in my direction. She was frantically wiping at the tears on her cheeks with both hands as she stared at me. "Edward!" She appeared to be relieved to see me.

I went and sat down next to her on the porch steps. Before I could stop her, she turned and wrapped her arms around me, burying her face in my shoulder. "I…I… thought you… left again," she said through her tears.

I didn't have the heart to tell her that I had never left. Being kidnapped was not the same as leaving. At two days old, I didn't get up out of a crib and crawl away from the hospital and my biological family.

As much as I wanted to comfort her, as much as I wanted to do the right thing, and as much as I wanted to help her… I couldn't bring myself to put my arms around her. It was like her embraced burned me. It made me uncomfortable to just sit there, as she clung to me for dear life. It was like I was her life preserver, but no matter how much I wanted to I couldn't drag her to safety. I was letting her drown.

"I just went for a walk in the woods," I explained. "I'm sorry if I scared you."

Esme held onto me for at least another minute before finally letting go. She was a mess and had been crying so hard that now she was hiccupping.

"Hold your breath and count to ten," I suggested.

She tried to do as I instructed, but it didn't work. We went into the house to warm up, and she splashed some water on her face. Eventually her hiccups went away by themselves when she calmed down. We were sitting next to each other on the couch and she was starting to stare again.

"I should have left a note or something, but I didn't expect you back for a while."

"My last two appointments canceled so I thought I'd come home so you wouldn't be alone," she said. "When you didn't answer I got worried. I was calling to see if you wanted to do Mean Meal Monday after all."

"We can still do that if you're up to it."

"I'm a wreck and I overreacted but you still want to go ahead and cook?"

"Considering the circumstances, I can understand your freak out."

She shook her head and almost laughed. "You and Emmett both have a way with words, you know that?"

"Where'd we get that from?" I asked. "Is that your thing or Carlisle's?"

"You get that from your father. I don't know if he's grown out of his verbal diarrhea or if over the years he has learned to filter himself better. On our first date he blurted out 'I like your boobies' at the dinner table and I was mortified." Esme started laughing at the memory, and so did I. "It's too embarrassing to tell you what he said the first time he saw me in a bathing suit."

"Was it anything like 'Boom Chica Wow Wow'?"

"How did you know?" she asked, surprised.

"Oh, no he didn't!" I laughed, and Esme nodded her head. "For some reason, I can see him saying that."

"Really? It seemed so out of place to me."

"How did he manage to win you over if you were mortified every time he talked?" I asked.

"It was how he acted toward me. How he treated his relatives, friends, and coworkers," she said. "Carlisle is a very caring and compassionate man. I just had to look past the word vomit to see it."

"I can only hope that Bella is doing that with me," I said. "'Cause, you know, sometimes I say the dumbest things."

"Okay, you said it, so spill."

"Well, like, yesterday morning, she went to take a shower and I thought she was going to take, like an hour in the bathroom. Anyway, so when she came out fifteen minutes later ready to go, I was surprised. I asked her why girls usually take so long in the bathroom and she said 'Try to make ourselves pretty for the men in our lives' which I didn't understand. Bella totally looked great with only fifteen minutes, what'd she need another forty-five minutes for? She looked all weird and stuff and when I asked her what I did she said both nothing and everything. What did I do?"

Esme was laughing at me. "You paid her a compliment, silly!"

"Oooh! Okay!"

"Is Bella your first girlfriend?" Esme asked. "You seem more clueless when it comes to girls than Emmett is."

"Woman, that was a total Carlisle moment you just had there," I said. Shit, I just called her 'woman'. It seemed like I had a Carlisle moment too. "Sorry, but yes, Bella is my first girlfriend."

"You moved around too much to date before?" she asked.

"Exactly," I said. "I never had any real friends either. That's all Emmett's fault."

"How is it Emmett's fault?"

"He talked to me, invited me to each lunch with them, and to hang out here," I explained. "I hadn't bothered making friends since I was like eight or something."

"You were kind of quiet when you first starting coming over here," Esme said sadly. "Over time I noticed that you slowly opened up and started talking more."

I didn't realize she had paid that much attention to me. "I was afraid of getting attached."

"Too late now, huh?"

"You said it." I grinned uncomfortably. "So, um, did you want to make that trip to the Thriftway?"

She did. We did. We both got stared at. We came back home as fast as humanly possible.

I was thankful that Esme sensed that I didn't want to linger in the store. It was hard being at the check out with her when I could still remember talking to Liz there, right in the same spot. The moment I realized that, I wanted to flee and run from the store. It was that or cry, and I was tired of crying at the moment.

When we returned home, everyone was home from school. Emmett handed my school work to me with a smirk. "What the hell is that for?"

"You know the trouble I went through gettin' this for you?"

"Poor baby, buck up," I said and turned to Alice. "Hey, Midg, no luck on a body pillow?"

"Naw, nothin' like that around here," she said. "We'll have to go at least to Port Angeles, but Sears usually closes at six o'clock during the week. Mom and Dad don't really like us heading to Port Angeles for _just_ shopping during the week anyway."

"Okay, fine, shopping trip this weekend," I said and sat down on the couch next to Bella. She reached out for my hand and took it in hers.

"Whoo hoo!" Alice said excitedly. "Will you need anything, Bella?"

Bella squeezed my hand. "No, I have everything I need right now."

Alice didn't catch Bella's double meaning because she stuck her tongue out at her and then turned to Rose. "I guess it'll be just the two of us shopping, Rose."

"I can't," Rose said. "Remember? The assholes cut up my credit card."

"So?"

"So, that means I have to tap out of shopping."

"You are all spoil sports!" Alice said. "You mean we're going to drive an hour and a half each way just to get Edward a body pillow?"

Jasper laughed. "What do you need a body pillow for?"

"I can't sleep, whore! I'm not used to my surroundings and it's too quiet out here," I said.

Alice frowned. "Don't you have a human body pillow in Bella?"

I felt Bella shake from silent laughter next to me. "Bella can't always spend the night so I can sleep."

"Let's at least go to the movies and dinner while we're there," Alice begged. "Puh-lease?!"

"That sounds reasonable," Emmett said. "Otherwise we'd be driving all that way for what will probably take fifteen minutes." I saw the looks that Rose and Jasper exchanged from across the room. Evidently Emmett noticed it too. "You two don't have to worry, so knock it off. And neither do Edward and Bella."

"I was just thinking about how busy that damn mall will be with the holidays so close," Jasper said, lying through his teeth.

"Shit, that's right, I totally forgot!" I said. "What the hell is today's date?"

"It's the fifteenth." Bella said. "Christmas is a week from this Thursday."

"Holy, crap!"

"Ooh, I sense that someone has forgotten to do their Christmas shopping!" Alice said with a gleam in her eye.

"Midg! Down girl!" I said. "No!"

The honest truth was that even before everything had happened, I hadn't thought much about Christmas shopping. I didn't make much money at the Thriftway, so I knew whatever small gifts I could muster would be downright lame and horrible. I didn't know what I could get for Bella, Emmett, Alice, Jasper, and Rose that didn't look like it came from the dollar store. I also had two other people to buy gifts for, my own parents, who I truly didn't know enough about in order to purchase something for them.

Honest to God, I felt like printing out a questionnaire, handing it to them, and asking them to fill it out so I could learn about them. Outside of their jobs and their family, I had no real clue as to who my parents were. What were their favorite colors? What hobbies did they enjoy? What things held their interest?

I didn't have a fucking clue. What the hell could I buy with little to no money for people I didn't know? Oh, shit, was I obligated to get a little something for Charlie too? What could I buy Charlie? Bullets? A six pack of Tall Boys? A dart board with a picture of my face on it?

"Midg, I don't have much money and I wouldn't even know what to buy for anyone, especially Carlisle and Esme."

"That's why I'm here—to help you out!" She plopped down on the couch on my other side. "I can help you pick a few things out for everyone!"

"Mom will know that Edward didn't pick out a three-hundred dollar pair of earrings." Emmett said. "She's not stupid."

"I won't go overboard, promise!" Alice said to Emmett and then turned back to me. "Think about it, Eddie."

"I will, Midg."

We sat in the living room doing our homework until Esme called Bella and me into the kitchen. She had assembled her homemade macaroni and cheese, and it was close to being ready. Now it was time for Bella and me to work on the salad and hamburgers. I combined the ingredients into the hamburger meat before shaping them into patties and placing them on the griddle. Carlisle came home as the hamburgers started to cook.

"Everything smells good." He tried to lift off the lid that I had put on the hamburgers to steam them.

"Eh eh!" I slapped at his hand. "Get outta there! You're going to ruin the flavor!"

Carlisle glanced at me and laughed. "That sounded a tad bit too much like Esme."

"Go clean up and get your butt back down here."

Carlisle turned and left, laughter trailing behind him as he went up the stairs. I turned to see Bella and Esme trying, but failing miserably, not to giggle.

"You sounded like a girl!" Bella insisted. "If you had said 'Get outta my kitchen' I would have lost it!"

"Oh shush," I said. "Get back to your salad!"

Everyone seemed to enjoy the burgers--Jasper and Emmett had two apiece--and the macaroni and cheese and salad were fantastic.

"Esme, that was ten times better than the stuff that comes out of the box," I said.

"Yeah," Emmett said. "Kraft and Velveeta have nothing on Mom."

It was officially my turn to help clean up after dinner. I found it was only right since I had helped create the mess. Esme and I were cleaning up while everyone else had gone upstairs.

"I could make a cook out of you yet, Edward," she said while washing a dish. "Those were some tasty burgers."

"Naw, I can't cook like you. I would like to be able to get by so I wouldn't starve or be bored if I was by myself."

I think my comment threw her for a loop. I didn't mean that I was getting up and walking away from the family. I had always thought about like if I had actually been able to go away to college or if I decided to stay somewhere by myself after Peter and Liz had moved on. Now that I probably had more of an opportunity to go on to higher education, my needing to cook something other than Raman noodles seemed like a realistic goal.

"You know, like college or marriage or my own apartment or something," I added. Why the hell had I mentioned marriage?

"Oh, of course," she nodded. "I understand."

I was about to leave the kitchen and head up to Emmett's room where everyone had congregated when Esme caught my attention. "Edward?" She was still facing the sink while I had turned and was in the opposite direction.

"Yes?" I rested my back against the counter.

"I know this may seem like a weird request, but I need to ask," she said nervously. "Earlier, I tried to hug you and I'd like to try that again."

I tried not to panic. The hug had felt awkward before, and I didn't want to experience that again. This time she wasn't crying hysterically, but I knew that I'd feel the same way. I had a long day, was tired as hell, and I didn't need anything else throwing my emotions into more of a tail spin than they already were.

Instead, I took her hand in mine. "Baby steps, Esme. Please?" I leaned over and placed my forehead against the edge of her shoulder, and I felt Esme rest her head against mine.

She squeezed my hand tightly. "Of course," she sighed. "I really am trying to hold back and be patient. It's so hard for me not to hug you like Emmett and Alice. They never seemed to have a phase like some teenagers do when they don't want to be around their own parents. They still let me hug them or give them a kiss on the cheek. It's so hard not to be able to do that with you."

"I'm sorry but it just feels weird right now."

"I'm trying to wait for you," she said sadly.

"You've waited for seventeen years."

"What's a little bit longer?" I sensed a little bit longer was a hell of a lot for her. We both raised our heads and looked at each other. "Baby steps," she said with a small smile.

"Baby steps," I repeated with a nod.

I wished Esme a good night if I didn't get the chance to see her again. Before I reached Emmett's door I decided to make what was slowly becoming my nightly ritual—I went to talk to Carlisle. As usual, he was sitting as his desk looking over whatever papers were in front of him. I didn't know if they were from work or personal business, and I didn't feel like it was my place to inquire.

"You seem a little troubled," he said. "Something happen?"

"I wanted to tell you something because I'm not sure she will."

"Okay, go on."

"I decided to go for a walk for a bit, and when I got back here Esme was sitting on the back porch crying hysterically," I informed him. "She thought I left."

"Ouch," he grimaced. "Thanks for telling me because it'll be something I have to really draw out of her."

"She was a mess, Carlisle."

He nodded and stared at his desk, twirling a pen around in his hands, silently contemplating the matter. "How are you doing today, Edward?"

I filled him in with the boring details of how it was hard for me to fall asleep out here. Being used to the noise of a populated area and then a change to complete and total silence was hard. He opened up a drawer on his desk and removed some kind of black material with wires hanging off of it.

"Do you want to use this for now? It's one of those radios you strap to your arm when you jog. When you're all shopping this weekend you can pick up something of your own, if you wish. Alice and Emmett could help you pick out an iPod or whatever," he said, holding the radio across the desk to me.

I took it from his hand. "The noise might help. I'll try it out, thanks. I think there was something else I was going to ask you, but I can't remember right now."

His hand went back into the desk drawer and he presented me with a small, pocket-sized black notebook. "Here, take this and write down whatever you need… or whatever that's going through your mind. I want you to feel free to talk to me but if you can't do that or lean on any of us, express it another way."

I wanted to laugh and thank him for giving me a diary, but I didn't because I was too tired to. Taking the notebook, I thanked him and wondered if I'd use it. It might come in handy for something.

On the way out of Carlisle's study, I literally ran into Emmett, who was going downstairs. Carlisle's door was closed and Esme was still downstairs.

"Look, I needed to talk to you real quick," I said in a whisper. "My back pack was in your Jeep."

"What?"

"Just go with it," I pleaded. "And on Saturday when we were at Chinook we picked up a cordless phone for me."

"Um, okay," he said. "I don't actually _enjoy_ lying to them, ya know."

"I know, neither do I."

Bella had another half an hour before she had to go home. We went up to my room and lay on my bed, facing each other and stealing kisses but not saying much of anything. I liked that about Bella. She didn't feel the need to be yammering on about trivial matters all the time. I found the situation ironic since I had been complaining I couldn't sleep because of the insane amount of quiet. Now, I relished just lying on my bed with Bella, staring into her eyes, and holding her in my arms.

I was fuckin' fickle, wasn't I?

Emmett let me take Bella home with his Jeep. Charlie must have arrived there just before us because he was getting out of his police cruiser when I pulled up. He nodded toward us and then headed inside. I figured he liked to spy on us in a more non-direct way, like hiding behind the curtains in the living room while we were on the porch in an embrace.

"You're going to school tomorrow, right?" she asked.

"I'm attempting to," I said. "If you hear that someone has left running and screaming into the woods, a good guess is that it'd be me."

"You'll do fine."

"Make sure you let Emmett know I'm on the loose so he can track me down," I said.

"Oh stop." She leaned into me and gave me a quick kiss. "I'll see you tomorrow. Try to sleep tonight."

"I will." I dropped my hands from her waist. She walked over to the door and placed her hand on the knob. "Good night, love."

Bella stopped and turned to me. "Good night, Edward." That smile that she held just for me was back. Oh, how I missed it.

I thought I was a good and safe driver, but on the way back to the house I had someone following so close to me that I was blinded by the lights on their vehicle. As usual, it was raining out and I didn't want to speed up and get into an accident. I pulled over to let them go around me but they started to pull over too. It wasn't a police cruiser behind me, or if it was, they never bothered to turn on their lights and I thought that was illegal. When another vehicle approached us from the opposite direction, the car behind me quickly went around me and sped off.

When I got back to the house I went right to my room. I wasn't in the mood to hang out anymore tonight. Earlier, I had hidden the Rubbermaid container in my closet. I brought it out and sifted through the contents. I mixed my clothes that I had gotten from the house with a set of Jasper's that Alice had left for me earlier. Counting the money that I had taken from Peter's nightstand, I found that there was three hundred dollars in the envelope. Three hundred dollars wasn't a lot of money to someone like Emmett or Alice, but it was a lot to Peter and Liz. I didn't know what to do with it. I wasn't even sure why I took it. It wasn't my money and I really had no right to it, did I? Did I take it out of anger? Or some kind of karmic payback? I put it the bills back into the envelope and hid it in my dresser.

I threw the blanket that Liz had made for me on my bed. I would try to sleep with it tonight only because I had such a hard time shutting my eyes and brain last night. The dark and light blues of the yarn were not in such a great shape anymore. The blanket also needed to be washed. I should've done that earlier when I had the house to myself. Maybe I could take it over to Bella's one day and use her washer as long as it had a gentle cycle. She'd keep quiet about the blanket, wouldn't she?

I stared at the picture of my fake family and remembered how happy I was back then. All three of us were. As much as I shouldn't, I missed them and felt guilty about it. I wanted to fly into Liz's arms, but I recoiled at Esme's touch. I fought the urge to run down to Carlisle and Esme's bedroom and apologize for being such a horrible, unloving son.

I placed the picture face down in the drawer of my night stand. Taking out my back pack, I placed it on the floor by my door. I left the rest of the items in the container for now and put it back into my closet. I brushed my teeth and stripped down to my boxers, remembering to take the small notebook out of my back pocket. I placed it on my night stand with my watch. Lying down, I put on the ear buds and tuned the radio to a station. I stared at my closet, where I knew the Rubbermaid container sat on the other side of the big, oak door.

The container represented my past. That big Rubbermaid container held mostly clothes that Jasper had given to me, but it held what few memories of my past life that I wanted to keep. I no longer had Peter or Liz in my life, but I had the memories of a life they had built for me. I couldn't let go of the photographs because they were reminders of what once was and would never be again.

My life itself had changed, but in reality, I hadn't. At least, I didn't think I had changed. I was still a smart ass, horny, (and hopefully sweet) teenage boy. My surroundings had changed, as well as what my future could be. No longer did I need to worry about being a blue collar worker, bouncing from one menial job to another. I had memories of a life I shouldn't and no memories of a life I should have led.

I rolled around and grabbed for the small black notebook and blindly groped for the pen on the dresser Bella had left behind. Opening the cover of the notebook, I flipped to the first page and wrote the first thing that came to my mind.

_Time_

Time to heal. Time to learn how to hopefully love Carlisle and Esme like I should. Time to adjust.

Carlisle never said I needed to write down tangible items. I placed the notebook and pen back on my nightstand and rolled over to my back. I found myself staring at the closet door again.

The Rubbermaid container represented my past and it was now sitting in the center of my current life and my future. I needed to find some way to merge my past and my present and yet still keep some semblance of myself. Some recognizable piece of me. But how? How could I open the container up without hurting all those around me? How could I merge my past with my present and still remain sane for my future?

* * *

**A/N:** If Edward gave Esme and Carlisle a questionaire, what should he ask them?

The part about Esme breaking down in tears was actually inspired by a reviewer... and I'm sorry that I don't remember who you were. They said something about it's amazing how well Esme has kept it together, not broken down but Edward isn't around Esme all the time, so how would he know?

I realize the toys that I mention are probably not correct date-wise. Those are toys I remember from my childhood since I was born in 1976. I was a bit of a tomboy but I blame that on having a brother just a year younger than me. I remember playing with Matchbox cars, He-Man, Dukes of Hazzard stuff, GI Joe, Transformers (how AWESOME is that movie??), running through the woods and playing in a tree house. Thankfully, I did have my girly things like Rainbow Brite, Strawberry Shortcake, She-Ra, and Barbie's. I always wanted a Barbie head that you used to style the hair and put make up on, but alas, I never got one! OMG, is that why I had Emmett and Jasper decapitate Barbie? Because I never got the Barbie head?

And yes, I really do love M*A*S*H*. I figured it might be something Edward would watch. When you don't have cable, you watch whatever is on. M*A*S*H, as well as a lot of older shows, are in reruns all the time. I still will watch M*A*S*H* and The Dukes of Hazzard if I come across them.


	23. Run to You

**Disclaimer:** I'm nobody. Don't own Twilight. Not Meyers or Andrews (or her ghost writer).

**A/N:** Sorry for the serious failure in posting. Real quick equation for you:

lack of inspiration + terminally ill aunt with lung, liver, breast, and brain cancer + mother that vents to you about her dying sister + feeling guilty over the fact that you're not going to see your aunt again while she's alive + unsure if you'll be able to attend the funeral of a relative you actually like = serious failure with writing mojo.

It took a commenter to point out the fact that I hadn't posted in a month. I was like, "No way, it hasn't been _that_ long!" and I looked and it had been that long! Serious thanks for all the comments--I haven't been able to reply to all of them. Y'all know I'm a comment whore so please don't let the fact that I didn't reply stop you from hitting that little button at the end of the chapter. Also, thanks to all regulars at Twilighted who have been on my case as well. I need a little push now and then.

**Support Stacie Auction:** I was sold for $125! I feel like such a whore when I say that! ;) Over $25,000 was raised to help Stacie kick cancer's ass.

* * *

**Chapter 23: Run to You**

On Tuesday morning I woke up on my own, well rested from a good night's sleep. Either the radio helped or I was so exhausted that my body didn't have any other choice. I showered, changed, grabbed my back pack, and headed downstairs for breakfast. I wore one of my previously-owned shirts with a current pair of Jasper's jeans and hoped that no one would be any the wiser. Alice gave me a look, but I wasn't sure if it was because of my clothes or not. She seemed to be running hot and cold with me lately, and I didn't know why. One time I'd see her and she'd be her old self and would give me a hug or a kiss on the cheek. The next time I saw her she would kind of brush me off and not even look me in the eye. I wasn't sure if she was trying to give me space or if she was uncomfortable with me now. Was she hormonal because of PMS? Is this what it was like to have a sister? If she didn't knock off her shit within a few days, I planned on confronting her about it.

We were all sitting at the kitchen table waiting for breakfast. Esme had decided to make pancakes for everyone. "Now, Edward, I'm working the eleven to seven shift today, so if school isn't going well, I can come and pick you up before eleven," Carlisle said. "After that you'll have to track Emmett down and call Esme."

"I told Bella that if she heard screaming coming from the woods that it was probably me," I said.

"Just try to keep your cool," he instructed.

"Don't make me search the woods," Emmett said seriously. "I swear there's weird stuff in those woods by the school."

"What on earth are you talking about?"

"Screaming banshees," Rose said with a smile. "Or huge wolves, he can't decide."

Emmett appeared hurt that Rose appeared so nonchalant about his fear of the woods or what was in them. "Swear to God, there was something in those woods when we had to jog in the trails in gym class last year."

"Carlisle, was Emmett adopted?" I asked seriously. He acted so goofy sometimes, I had to ask.

"Hey!" Emmett swung his leg at me under the table. "That's not nice!"

"No, Emmett is _not_ adopted," Carlisle said. "I was there for the birth. I saw all seven pounds, eleven ounces of him being born."

"I was a 7-11. I was a convenience store!" Emmett pumped a fist into the air.

Esme came over and placed a plate of pancakes and bacon on the table. "It was more like trying to deliver a Wal-Mart."

I nearly snorted milk through my nose.

Alice and Jasper drove to school in Alice's car. I don't know how on earth she talked Carlisle and Esme into letting her get a Porsche, but she had a fancy, shiny, yellow one. It looked so new, I was surprised that she didn't drive it more often instead of hopping rides with Emmett. We swung by Bella's and picked her up first before heading to school and meeting up with Alice and Jasper in the parking lot.

"You ready to go, bro?"

"Ready as I'll ever be."

"We'll be there for you through out the day," Alice said. "You have one of us in half your classes, right?"

"Thankfully, I think it's more than that," I said. "I've got Rose and Emmett in English, Emmett in Photography, Bella in Biology, and Bella and Jasper in History. I just have to worry about Gym, Study Hall, and the hallways."

"Okay, good, that's better than I thought," she said. "I'm sorry I'm not in any of your classes."

"You're a grade lower than me, it happens," I said. "At least there's lunch and the hallways."

"True, I just wish I was there for you." Alice sounded sad over the fact that she wasn't in any of my classes.

"It's not your fault, Midg." I was just glad that she was talking to me at the moment. I was fully expecting her to brush me off this morning. I never knew that PMS could be so damn annoying. Would I have to stay away from Bella for an entire week when she's on the rag?

"Come on," Emmett said, slinging the strap to his back pack over his shoulder. "Let's get this day started."

Bella walked next to me, holding my hand. "Look up, stop staring at the ground," she instructed me. "Meet 'em in the eye."

She walked with me to my first class, Gym, and left me right outside the door of the boys' locker room. I changed quickly and tried to keep to myself, but I could feel eyes on me.

Mike Newton actually had the balls to approach me. "I don't know what to tell you, Edward. I can't begin to imagine what you're going through."

"Thanks, Mike."

"If we we're doing something and need partners I'll team up with you, if you want," he said. "Or not, whatever you want."

He was fidgety and unsure of himself, which was exactly how I felt. It kind of felt good to have someone understand how I felt, even if they didn't know it. "Sure, thanks again, Mike."

When Mr. Peterson took roll call, he didn't know what to call me. "Edward… um… Edward?"

"Here," I said without correcting him. Legally I was still Edward Masen, but technically I was Edward Cullen. Some people could be real sticklers when it came to technicality verse legality. Hell, I didn't know what to really consider myself. Maybe I should hyphenate like some newly married women do.

Luckily, we were playing racquetball, and Peterson wanted us to team up with the opposite sex. Mike and Angela were whispering, and she very timidly came over to me. "Did you want to team up?"

"Um, sure, though I'm not really all that great at racquetball."

"One time, I was paired up with your brother…" Her voice trailed off like she had made a mistake. I smiled at her and she continued. "And I seriously feared for my life. He hits the ball so hard I thought that if it hit me that I'd break a bone."

"That totally wasn't nice of Emmett!"

"He means well," she said. "So, as long as you promise not to kill me with a ball or racket to the head, I'll partner up with you. Jessica and Lauren were plotting to… um, oh, never mind."

"Now that I'm a Cullen they want to sink their claws into me?"

"Exactly."

Emmett warned me of how he was treated by the other kids in school. I never thought I'd experience it first hand for myself. I put my arm around Angela's shoulders. "Oh, Ang, I've always liked you better than Jessica and Lauren," I said loud enough for the two of them to hear. "I'd love to be your partner."

Angela smiled nervously at me while we watched Jessica and Lauren walk off across the gym in a huff. Then Mike came over and joined us for a good laugh.

In English, Emmett switched spots with me so I sat between him and Rose. Our seats were in the middle of the classroom, and I was paranoid and felt everyone's eyes on me from every direction. I didn't know if I had an over active imagination or if everyone was really staring, but at least one person was caught by Emmett because I heard him whisper to his right, "What are you lookin' at, jackass?" I noticed that Mrs. King never mentioned me during roll call. Better safe than sorry if you don't know what to call someone I suppose.

Study Hall was, unfortunately, where I lost it. I sat there in a room that was supposed to be quiet, staring at a blank piece of paper, unable to start my English essay.

"_Look at him, he probably thinks his shit don't stink now."_

"_Didn't he luck out?"_

"_Maybe I should befriend the Cullens and then I'll find out I'm a missing sibling."_

I packed up my things, got up from my seat, and walked right out of the classroom despite the protests of Mrs. Velasquez. Quickly, I made a left and headed down the stairwell to the first level. My knuckles connected with the air vents on an innocent locker. It was just another one of my not so bright moves. God, Emmett was really rubbing off on me, wasn't he?

"Edward?"

Oh, great, now I was going to have to head to the office. They'd probably call Carlisle or Esme. I'd probably get detention. Worse yet, I'd have to go to Erikson and I'd be forced to sit in counseling sessions with that crack pot. I _so_ did not want that.

Turning around slowly, I found Mr. Moorhead standing in the doorway of the Photography classroom. "Oh, um, hey, Mr. Moorhead, I'm real sorry if I disrupted a class."

"You didn't but it's only because this is my free period," he said. "I was grading assignments. What are you doing out here? Where are you supposed to be?"

"With Velasquez in a Study Hall," I explained. "I couldn't take the staring and whispering about me so I got up and left."

"Get in here and I'll let Velasquez know where you are."

Sure enough, Moorhead called Mrs. Velasquez and let her know that I was in his classroom. I think he may have talked her out of reporting me to the office but I couldn't hear part of the conversation. He turned his back to me and was whispering so low that I could barely hear him.

"Thanks for getting her off my back," I said. "I needed to get out of there or I was going to scream."

"Screaming sometimes helps."

"Not in the middle of a packed classroom."

"You've got a point." Moorhead sat down across from me. "Would you rather not have to go back to Study Hall?"

"God, yes."

"Would you like it if you could come in here instead?"

Before I said yes, I had to make sure Moorhead didn't want… say my body or something as equally as creepy. I didn't get the, as Rose put it, creepy "Chi Mo" vibe from him though. "And do what?"

"You could be listed as interning for me," he said. "I don't really need much help, but you could come in here and use this time as your study hall. Or you could work in the dark room. You can sleep for all I care. On the plus side, I think you'd earn a credit, which always looks good."

Mmm, let's see, I could return to Study Hall, where I would endure the constant whisperings and stares of my stupid classmates. Or, I could come to Photography an hour early and chill with Moorhead. Decisions, decisions.

"How do we get me switched over?"

"I'll call Mr. Erikson and he'll get the paperwork started. You need to take it home to get it signed for approval." I noticed he refrained from mentioning the paper had to be signed by one of my parents. Moorhead called Erikson, who was free, and got everything started. With a pass in hand, I went to the crackpot's office to get the paperwork to take home. He looked at me with pity in his eyes, and I was glad that Moorhead had saved me from sitting in counseling sessions with him.

Not to say that I couldn't be helped by counseling. In all honesty, it might do me some good. I never held much stock in high school guidance counselors though.

By the time I got back to Photography, the bell had rung and the hallways were filled with Forks High's best, brightest, and dumbest. I stopped at Moorhead's desk first, and he quickly filled out some information about what was expected of me during my internship. Evidently, I was going to help clean the dark room, sweep the area where the power tools were, and help keep the nearby bulletin board that Moorhead was in charge of updated. Emmett was already in his seat and my back pack was on the table next to him.

"What up, man?" Dear Lord, he needed to stop trying to sound cool. "What was that with Moorhead and how come your stuff was already here?"

"Hello to you too, brother," I said.

"Hey. Speak."

I rolled my eyes at him. "Woof, woof. Want me to roll over too? If so, you better be ready to give me a damn treat and rub my belly, bitch."

"Shut it," he said, shaking his head. "What's going on, smart ass?"

"I'll give you the short version. I ran out of Study Hall and punched a locker outside in the hallway. Moorhead is free third period, so I'm going to be his intern so I don't have to stay in Study Hall."

"Sweet, that's nice of Moorhead."

"Yeah, I know."

Surprisingly, Lunch was the easiest time of the day for me. Even though the cafeteria was packed and loud, I was with my friends and family. I think that helped most of all. We were in our own little bubble and for the most part I was able to ignore all the other students around me. Mike and Angela walked by our table on the way to the garbage and waved in my direction.

"What was that about?" Jasper asked. "Are you best buds with Mikey and Ang now?"

"They helped me deal in Gym," I explained. "They're cool, I think."

"Angela is a nice girl," Emmett said, and Rose poked him in the side. "I didn't mean like that!"

Rose leaned against Emmett's massive arm. "Just making sure. You're prime real estate, you know."

"And you're like a penthouse apartment on the Upper East Side," Emmett said. The two of them started getting all cutesy with each other, and I had to look away. I really did not feel like puking up my lunch.

"As long as Mike has given up chasing after Bella like a puppy dog, maybe I can deal with him," I said hopefully.

Alice laughed. "Good luck with that one! Mike has been after Bella for like, ever now."

For reasons that even I didn't understand, Bella was with me and he'd have to deal with it. Or I'd have to go back to ignoring his ass. Bella and I got to Biology early so we wouldn't have to walk through the entire class to our lab table with everyone staring at me.

"Seriously, how have things gone so far?" Bella asked when we took our seats at the back of the classroom.

"I wasn't lying in lunch when I said things haven't been too bad," I told her. "Maybe I'm paranoid, I dunno. The staring is annoying. People don't know what to say to me. They're sorry. They're envious. According to Angela, Jessica and Lauren had planned on sinking their claws into me because I'm a Cullen now."

"Let me at 'em, I'll scratch their eyes out!" Bella held out her hand like a paw and hissed.

"Down tiger!" I took her outstretched hand in mine. "I wasn't interested in them before, I'm certainly not interested in them now."

I felt Bella's fingers squeezing my hand. "That's good to hear."

"Besides, the only girl I want is the one that's sitting next to me." It was a good thing that there wasn't a skeleton in the corner, Bella would've jokingly accused me of wanting it. "You're sexy when you're jealous."

Bella cheeks turned a hundred shades of pink. It was adorable. "Edward!"

I don't know if it was because it was the last class of the day or because Bella was with me, but History went great. I felt more at ease and relaxed. I felt like myself, whoever that was, and it felt great.

The night progressed much like any other night. We went back to the house and did our homework. Emmett, Jasper, and I threw a football around the backyard while the girls watched. Jasper and I teamed up against Emmett to play some flag football. Even on a team by himself, Emmett still managed to kick our asses. I tried to imagine the three of us younger and doing the same thing. We watched some TV and had dinner. Carlisle and Esme asked me how my day went. I had to explain to them about my little Study Hall blow up. There was no way to hide that. I wanted to be switched over to Moorhead's free period for the Internship, and I needed one of them to sign the paper from the school. They were both concerned about me like I expected them to be. Thankfully, they didn't lecture me about controlling my anger or wanting me to see a shrink. Maybe they already knew I was messed up. Or maybe they knew that I needed time to figure things out and for people to stop whispering and staring at me.

I could never say that Carlisle and Esme weren't good parents. They were great parents. They just didn't feel like they were _my parents_.

I drove Bella home, and we made out in the Jeep for five minutes before she headed inside. Oh, don't get me wrong, I would have loved to be lip locked with her for a bit longer. The porch light kept turning on and off, and it was annoying as hell.

"There is nothing wrong with that light," Bella said with a shake of her head.

"Are you sure?" I asked. "Looks like there's a short."

"The only thing that has a short is Charlie. I'm sure it's him. He's probably doing Morse code with the light switch."

"'Bella, get in the house before you're grounded for a month' type of deal?" Bella laughed. "Wait, wait, we've got to learn Morse code and we can shoot a flashlight from the Jeep and tell Charlie, 'Go get laid and stop worrying about us!', right?"

"Oh, we're so learning Morse code!" Bella managed to eek out between more laughter. With a final kiss, Bella headed toward the porch. Funny, the light stopped flickering as soon as I got out of the Jeep to help Bella out. Maybe she was right about Charlie messing with the light.

When I got home, I had the urge to talk to Carlisle but thought better of it when I reached the second floor. The door to Carlisle's study was slightly ajar, and I could hear raised voices coming from inside.

"She can't be trusted."

I tried to identify the voice. It sounded so familiar because it was someone I had met, but who?

"I know that, Tony."

Ah ha! That'd have to be Carlisle's brother Tony. He'd also be my uncle, but it took me a minute to connect the dots to that, ahem, connection. He's the father of the two cousins who always hit on Emmett. Weirdos.

"Don't let her get to him." Tony's voice was loud, stern, and angry. "We don't know what she has planned."

"I _never_ want him to meet that witch," Carlisle said.

I left and went up to my room. The conversation between Carlisle and Tony gave me the chills. I knew Tony didn't live here in Forks but a few hours away. What was Tony doing here at this time of night during the week? Was the 'him' they were referring to me? If so, who did they want me to stay away from?

I used the radio Carlisle had given me to help me fall asleep again. It helped but not as much as it had the night before. Before falling asleep I wrote another word down in my little black notebook.

_Patience._

The next morning I didn't wake up on my own, so I was thankful that I had thought to set my alarm clock. The school day went much the same way as it did the day before. In gym I partnered up with Angela again, and she thanked me for not having a wicked arm like Emmett. I saw Emmett give someone a warning glance in English. Mr. Moorhead had me clean the dark room, and later Emmett and I got a pass to take pictures on campus. Lunch was comfortable and calm because I finally got to see Bella again. The morning dragged on too long without her. Biology and History were better and less stress free.

Funny, things seemed to be going better, but I still had an overwhelming urge to smash some dishes.

After school, Bella and I borrowed Alice's laptop and made an attempt to figure out Morse code. The attempt went to hell when she started kissing my neck. So, yeah, needless to say, we didn't learn much of anything about Morse code that night. I think I managed to bookmark a Wikipedia page, and that was about it. When I took Bella home, the porch light didn't flicker, and I wasn't surprised to learn that Charlie was at work.

Staring at the little black notebook on my night stand, I questioned Carlisle's real reason for giving it to me. I hadn't used it has he intended but I didn't think he'd care. Carlisle and Esme were both being as patient as they could be with me. There was something about Carlisle that made him easier to deal with. I grabbed the notebook, flipped it open and wrote down a third word.

_Understanding._

Sleep came to me a little more easily that night. Maybe I was finally getting used to my new surroundings. I tried to sleep without the music, but I needed the noise. One night I was sure that I would strangle myself with the cord from the headphones, but I'd get a good night's sleep while doing so.

Thursday was much the same as Wednesday. I was thankful that things seemed to getting easier every day. Maybe one day I wouldn't have to be paranoid and wonder how many members of the student body whispered and stared at me behind my back. Maybe one day I could just be myself again.

During third period I had updated the nearby bulletin board like Moorhead asked. I showed him the finished result, and he seemed quite pleased with my work. How hard did he think it was to pin shit to a board? Maybe he enjoyed my artistic flair for the mindless project.

"Mr. Moorhead, can I get a pass to take pictures for the rest of the period?"

"Didn't you do that yesterday?" he asked. "Did you develop them?"

Moorhead didn't like to give too many passes to the same student too many days in a row. "I was with Emmett, remember? All he wanted to do was take macro shots of bugs, and he was hitting into me. I know none of my pictures came out."

"I totally understand," he said. "You might want to tell Emmett to get his act together and buckle down in here."

"The doofus is failing?"

"Not quite, but I know his current grade would bring down his average."

"Thanks for the warning, I'll try to kick him into gear," I said as Moorhead wrote a pass out for me. With camera in hand that was full of fresh film, I went to my locker to get my jacket. Taking the path behind the school, I headed through the fresh snow fall to the side of campus that faced the highway. There was a wooded area that I thought might make some nice pictures. The leaves of the trees sparkled in the sunlight with the snow that clung to them. I liked photography, but it wasn't my best subject. I took multiple pictures of the same scene with different settings because I could never remember what the best setting was to use. I could understand Biology and Calculus, but I couldn't get Photography terms. What a weirdo I was!

I heard a siren in the distance, and it appeared to be getting closer. An ambulance went by and then entered the school property. A noise of breaking branches behind me caught my attention, and I turned to see what was going on. I thought back to Emmett's comments about the woods from Tuesday morning. I must be as crazy as he was. The ambulance hurried into the bus loop near the gym and came to a stop. Looking through the camera lens, I zoomed in on the scene below me. I waited anxiously as the paramedics removed a stretcher and hurried into the doors of the gym.

Once again I thought I heard a noise behind me but when I turned around, nothing was there. When the paramedics exited the building with the stretcher, my heart might have well dropped out of my chest. I immediately started running down the hill and to my baby sister.

* * *

**A/N:** Go on, I know you wanna say it. I'm an evil bitch. ;-)


	24. Panic

**DISCLAIMER: **I'm not Stephenie Meyer or V.C. Andrews. I just like to take their characters and storyline ideas and twist them around into something else.

**A/N: **OME! A _Legacy_ update! I know! I feel the same way. I've had some crap going on that made me feel non-artistic and uncreative. My aunt Bev passed away, my Mom was diagnosed with Lyme Disease, I had something medical going on which had me worried, another one of my aunt's was diagnosed with cancer, a cousin was diagnosed with non-cancerous Melanoma, and one of my cousin's husbands was diagnosed with cancer. WTF? It feels like the damn Grim Reaper has it out for my family.

**FYI's: **One of my other stories, _Unconventional,_ was nominated at the Indie Twi Fic Awards but I doubt it's going to get past the first round.

If you don't have me on author alerts I published what is supposed to be a two-shot _The Commuters_ for my Support Stacie Author Auction. I was bought for $125 by MythicVictory and she gave me permission to post the story. Another auction is being held in September and not only will I be whoring myself out again, but I plan on offering my graphic services this time. Need an icon and have a few bucks to spare for a good cause? I'm your girl! Or should I say, I will be for a price.

_Legacy_ is now in the _1,000 and Over Review Club_. You didn't know there was a club? I want to thank everyone for your continued support, PM's, and reviews. They mean the world to me. It surprises me every time I get someone that leaves a review that starts out like, "I just found your story and read it during the weekend/last three days/couldn't stop reading and I love it!"

I'll shut up now and let you read the latest!

* * *

**Chapter 24: Panic**

Quickly I ran down the hill leading to the school, almost stumbling over my own feet several times. Alice was lying on the stretcher with an oxygen mask over her mouth and nose being pushed toward the ambulance by the paramedics.

"What's going on?" I asked to no one in particular and stopped myself from pushing one of the paramedics away. "Midg?" I asked from about two feet away from the stretcher, afraid to get much closer.

Alice was breathing heavily into the mask. One hand was practically clawing at her chest while the other was holding her stomach. I noticed that beads of perspiration dotted her forehead. Moving the oxygen mask away from her face, she spoke, her words rushed and panicked. "What are you doing here, Edward?"

"I was taking pictures for Photography," I said. "What on earth is wrong?"

"I don't know what's wrong with me," she said anxiously, her words frantic, and placed the mask back over her face. Alice closed her eyes, inhaled deeply, and pushed her head back into the stretcher. "It feels like I'm going to throw up, faint, and have a heart attack at the same time."

The assistant principal, Brandmire, was standing nearby watching the scene unfold before him. "Mr. Brandmire," I said, walking up to him. "If they're taking my sister to the hospital I'm going with her."

"You need to be signed out by a parent or guardian," he said while his eyes darted back and forth between Alice and me. It was freezing cold out, and she was lying there on the stretcher in a t-shirt and shorts on. One of the paramedics had taken a sheet and covered Alice with it, but what she really need was to be inside somewhere warm. _Hurry up and make a decision._ "Under normal circumstances, that is. Where are you supposed to be right now?"

I heard the paramedics loading the stretcher Alice was on into the ambulance. I shoved the school's camera at Brandmire and dug through my pockets for my hall pass. "I'm interning for Mr. Moorhead and I have a pass to take pictures on campus."

Brandmire took the pass from me and examined it. "I have to contact your parents anyway so I'll let them know I let you go in the ambulance. I trust that you will behave for the paramedics and not interfere in your sister's care?"

"Of course, sir!"

"Go ahead with them then," he said.

"Thank you very much," I said. "Please find Emmett and Jasper and tell them what happened, please? I know they'll want to know what's going on."

"I will personally track them down for you. I hope Alice feels better."

Nodding my head, I turned and headed toward the ambulance. I wasn't allowed to ride in the back with Alice so I sat in the front and one of the paramedics stayed in the back monitoring her. The ride to the hospital seemed to take forever even though it was only a fifteen minute trip. Once there, I had to stay in the waiting room, but I felt like I should be in the examination room with Alice. At this point I had already lost so many things in my life. I was afraid that if I let Alice out of my sight that there was a possibility that I'd lose her too. Nervously I waited… and waited… and waited. I didn't know which was slower—Forks Community Hospital or government bureaucracy. Because I was an impatient mess, I was voting for the hospital.

Almost a week ago I had sat on hard plastic chair that made my ass hurt at the Forks police department. Now I sat on a hard plastic chair in the hospital that was absolutely killing my ass cheeks. Carlisle burst through the doors that led to the lobby, spotted me, and headed immediately in my direction.

"What happened?" he asked. "Are you okay?"

"I don't know," I replied. "I was outside on the campus and Alice was in gym."

"Let's go get some answers then, shall we?" There was a look of determination on his face that I often saw from Alice. I followed him through the doors to the exam area. A nurse started to protest but quickly shut her mouth when she saw Carlisle's facial expression.

Carlisle stopped in front of an exam room, and together we waited until the doctor who was already inside with Alice was finished. The female doctor exited the room and pulled the door shut behind her.

"Carlisle," she simply said with a nod of her head. "Thank you for waiting while I was with my patient and not barging in even though she's your daughter."

"Bridget." He exchanged the same courtesy. "Edward, this is Dr. Derbyshire."

"Hello, nice to meet you ma'am."

"What's going on with my daughter?" Carlisle asked. "What are her symptoms?"

Derbyshire glanced at the chart and read from it. "Alice was in gym when she started to experience heart palpitations, shortness of breath, dizziness, and felt as if she was going to faint. Is it correct that she doesn't have any history of heart problems?"

"No, she doesn't," Carlisle said.

"I'd like to keep her overnight to monitor her oxygen levels and heart rate," she explained. "Rule out any sort of heart related issues."

"Of course," Carlisle said.

"Can I go in and see her?" I asked eagerly.

Derbyshire glanced at Carlisle. "Just stay calm and don't get her riled up about anything, okay? She's doing much better now."

"I'll pretend to do meditation and all that 'Ohm' chanting stuff if I have to."

Derbyshire broke the ice and laughed. "I don't think you have to go that far."

"I'll be in soon, Edward," Carlisle explained. "I want to talk to Derby a bit more."

"Derby?" I asked.

"Thanks, Car!" Derbyshire said with a slight smile.

"How cute, you have nicknames for each other." Carlisle rolled his eyes at me and motioned his head toward the door. "I'm going, I'm going."

I was sure that once I left the two of them would start talking in medical jargon that I wouldn't yet understand. Taking a deep breath and then exhaling slowly, I opened the door to Alice's room and walked in. Alice was lying on her back on the hospital bed and staring at the ceiling.

"What the hell is so fascinating up there?" I glanced up to check out what she was staring at. "Is there a pattern of Jasper naked up there or something?"

Alice turned her head to me and smiled meekly. "No, no naked Jasper on the ceiling."

"Thank the Lord," I said. "I don't want to be scarred for the rest of my life over that one."

"It's not _that_ horrible of a sight to see," Alice said with a smile.

I shook my head. "No, thank you. I'd much rather see Bella naked than your little whore boy."

"Edward!"

I went and grabbed the chair that was against the wall and pulled it next to the bed. "I'm not supposed to get you excited, so calm the fuck down, will ya?" Alice started laughing, and I remembered how long it had been since I had heard her laugh like that. It was before my parentage switcheroo happened. Before everything changed. "Now, Mary Alice-"

"Edward!"

"A girl in my life is supposed to be shouting my name, but I highly doubt it's supposed to be my sister," I said. "Wait, we don't inbreed, do we? Are Laura and Emily on to something with Emmett?"

"You are insane," Alice said. "Why are you here?"

"Because you're my sister and you're hurt somehow," I said. "Duh."

"So if Emmett was the one on the stretcher outside of the gym you'd be here too?"

"Of course," I said. "Though I don't know if only two paramedics could've gotten Emmett into an ambulance without injuring themselves. Poor guys would get a hernia over Emmett." Alice stared at me oddly. Would she really think that I wouldn't be there for her or Emmett? She reached up and placed her hand on her chest and took a deep breath. "What is going on with you, Midg?"

"I don't honestly know," she said. "The first time it happened I thought I was dying."

"Wait, first time?" I asked seriously. "What do you mean first time? How often have you had these… episodes?"

"I've been feeling off since Saturday," she confessed. "All of a sudden I'll feel like my heart is about to explode out of my chest. Or I'll feel all clammy and weird. I feel like the room is spinning around me. I can't breathe and I'm ready to kiss the floor."

"What were you doing in gym class right before this started?"

"Playing racquetball. Duh."

She was keeping something from me. There was something about her face that gave her away. I had no idea what she was keeping from me, though. "What else is going on with you, Alice? Please, tell me." Alice's knuckles were white from grasping at the bed sheets so hard and I knew she was hesitant about talking to me. "Do I have to set up water torture here in the hospital to get you to talk to me?"

"I don't know the hell to act around you," she blurted out. "I mean, do I talk to you? Do I leave you alone? Am I being too pushy? Am I being too forward? Am I not talking to you enough or am I talking to you too much? Am I hovering? I don't know what to do with myself when I'm around you."

"Whoa, wait, _I'm_ your problem?"

"No." Alice let go of the bed sheets and had clasped her fingers together in her lap.

"Well, it sure as hell sounds that way."

"It's me," she said. "I don't know what to do. I start to get all nervous."

"And you didn't tell anyone?"

"In case you forgot, we had some other things to deal with." Her eyes were no longer meeting mine.

"Your health is much more important than my adjusting," I said. "Your health is my fault, though, since this stuff has only happened since all this crap started."

"It's not your fault," she insisted.

"Yes it is. Alice, look at me, please," I asked, and she turned her head toward me. "If this had never happened, then you'd be fine. Besides, why are you so worried about how you act around me? Be yourself, Midg."

"I saw how you were with Mom… crap… Esme… and I didn't want to make you feel that way. I know it's been hard dealing with her at times."

"She's my biological mother who lost her son for seventeen years," I said. "You're my sister who reached out to me as a friend first. I'm actually more comfortable with you and Emmett."

"I've been afraid of doing or saying the wrong thing," she said with a shaky voice.

"Just be you," I said. "Don't get yourself all worked up over me. And you don't have to call her Esme in front of me. I think Emmett only does that because he thinks it makes me feel more comfortable. I know they're _our_ _parents, _but I can't bring myself to call them something other than their first names right now."

"Are you sure?" she asked hesitantly. I reached out and took her hand in mine.

"Yes, Mary Alice," I said with a smile. "No more kissing the floor for you. You'll make Jasper jealous."

Alice squeezed my hand. "You have a way with words, do you know that?"

"I'm gifted like that," I said. "If I had opened my mouth up at my other schools I probably would've had the ladies all over me."

Alice started laughing which made me laugh too.

"Okay, what the hell is going on?" We both turned our heads to see Emmett just inside the doorway. "Brandmire pulls me out of class, and me and Jazz hurried our way over here. We're all worried about you and now you two are laughing your asses off."

"Where's the whore?" I asked.

"They wouldn't let him in because he's not an immediate member of the family," Emmett explained as he made his way over to the other side of Alice's bed. "The guy is one of my best friends and is practically my brother-in-law."

"Is he in the lobby?" I asked.

"Yup, you can find him pacing the floor or trying to sneak past Nurse Ratched."

"Midg," I said, and she turned her head in my direction. "Tell Emmett what's going on and I'll go talk to Jasper."

"Okay, but don't over exaggerate or make him worry more than he already is," she asked.

"I won't." She let go of my hand, and I leaned over and gave her a quick kiss on her forehead. "Don't get her overly excited, Emmett."

"Isn't that Jasper's job?" he asked, and Alice swatted her hand at him.

The next few minutes were filled with a bustle of activity. I found Jasper pacing the lobby. I relayed every single detail I could remember from Dr. Derbyshire and from my conversation with Alice. In the middle of this, Bella called from Angela's cell phone during lunch to find out what was going on. Who knew what sort of rumors were floating around about Alice?

"That bastard!" Bella exclaimed over the phone line. "Why didn't Emmett didn't come and get me?"

"I'm sure he would have if it wasn't for the fact that he barely had a legal excuse to get Jasper signed out." I explained calmly. Brandmire probably broke a bunch of rules for us today. Mike kindly agreed to bring Bella to the hospital right after school.

Carlisle found Jasper and me, and although I felt the need to pass on what Alice had told me, it wasn't the right time. Esme had reached the hospital and found us standing together in the lobby.

"What is it, Carlisle?" Esme asked. She could see the wheels turning in his head like I could. He was trying to figure out what was wrong with Alice, but he didn't have a clue. "Do you think you know what's going on with Alice?"

"Bridget wants to keep her overnight for observation and to monitor her heart rate." He explained, avoiding answering her question.

"Bridget is Alice's doctor?" Esme asked with concern.

The four of us stood there in an uncomfortable silence. Jasper and I had no damn clue what the hell was going on. Esme seemed tense over the fact that Dr. Bridget Derbyshire was Alice's doctor. Poor Carlisle seemed anxious over Esme's tension.

"Oh, for the love of God, someone speak already," I commanded.

"Ex-girlfriend!" Carlisle blurted out.

"Carlisle!" Esme exclaimed and shook her head.

"Derby?" I asked. Jasper's hand was reaching out to cover my mouth, but I slapped it away. "What the fuck, whore?"

"You two and your verbal diarrhea," Esme said with a slight nervous laugh, and I apologized for my swearing. "Okay, Derbyshire is Alice's doctor. What is she doing for her?"

"Currently, running some tests to try to figure out what's wrong," Carlisle explained.

"I want to go see Alice," Esme said. "Come on, Jasper."

"They won't let me in," he said sadly, "because I'm not related." I knew it was killing him not to be by her side at this time.

"Doesn't this place know I have three adopted children who just happen to be dating my three biological children?" Esme said with a smile.

"Wow, that sounds all kinds of backwoods redneck," I said. "At least we're mixing the gene pool up a bit."

Esme and Jasper laughed and then she led him away in the direction of Alice's room. Once Esme had something in her mind, it was set. She was going to get Jasper in to see Alice no matter what she had to tell the hospital.

I sat down on one of the couches in the lobby. "This is all my fault," I said. "If it wasn't for me, then Alice wouldn't be having these stupid episodes."

"Don't do that to yourself," Carlisle said. "This is not your fault."

"I have to tell you what Alice told me in her room." Carlisle looked at me inquisitively. "This isn't the first time one of these little attacks has happened."

"What? She's had them before? Edward, tell me everything the two of you talked about."

I told him everything—minus the bits about Jasper and Bella naked—he didn't need to know about that stuff. He sat there next to me, taking in what I told him about how Alice described how she felt and then how she didn't know how to act around me. When I was done, Carlisle sat back against the couch and exhaled. He was trying to figure out what was wrong with Alice, and it was annoying him that he didn't know.

"This is my fault because this didn't start happening until after the entire switcheroo deal." I sat back against the couch and looked away from Carlisle.

"Son, this isn't your fault." I flinched at the word 'son' and continued to stare in the opposite direction, even when I felt Carlisle put his hand on my shoulder. "Edward this isn't your fault. What ever is going on with Alice, well, it's her body's way of dealing with whatever is going on."

I slowly turned my head and glanced at Carlisle before staring down at my lap. "Then why do I feel so guilty?"

"Because Alice is your sister and she's someone you care about." Funny, I didn't flinch when he said 'sister'. "Don't worry, I won't tell your friends that you're a sensitive soul."

"What friends?" I laughed. "All my friends live in the same house I do."

"Well, I won't tell Rose or Jasper, but I bet Bella already knows. Who cries first at a sad movie? You or her?" he joked.

"I am _not_ handing in my manhood card." I didn't have a reason to anyway. I hadn't cried at a sad movie, just about my sad ass life that had been turned upside down recently. And those tears were certainly justifiable, right? "Back to our original topic. Alice didn't know what was going on, and I think she was trying to hide it. She's been acting a bit weird, but I've never seen her having any of the symptoms she described. Jasper never mentioned anything to me or to Emmett, as far as I know. If Jasper knew, he would have told us, I'm sure of that."

"Jasper loves her," he nodded his head in agreement. "He would have wanted us watching out for her."

"Oh, God, Carlisle, is Derbyshire running a pregnancy test at all?"

"Since Alice is sexually active, yes, they are double checking." He seemed a little weirded out by bringing up the fact he knew that his daughter was having sex. I'm sure that was something that fathers didn't want to think about their daughters doing.

"So… Car… you and Derby, huh?" I asked with a sly smile.

"Yes, Bridget and I dated for a little while before I met Esme."

"Ooh, so were you and Bridget like this hot couple and Esme came into the picture and totally blew your mind and stole you away from Bridget?"

"Yup, you're my son, you have my verbal diarrhea."

"Better than a blood test, right?" Carlisle sat there shaking his head at me. I seemed to have that effect on several people. "So, Bridget and Esme… you've got good taste in women. Derby is cute."

"Thanks, but you're a tad bit young for me." I jumped up from my seat on the couch to find Derbyshire standing behind it with a smirk on her face. "You should've named him Carlisle Junior. He's just like you."

One of those odd unnamed sounds came deep from Carlisle's throat, and I knew he was trying not to laugh. "Do you have any news for us yet?" he asked, and Derbyshire glanced at me. "He's her brother, he'll find out anyway."

"The pregnancy test was negative," she said.

"Oh, hallelujah!" I said, and they both stared at me like I had two heads. "What? She don't need to be birthin' no babies yet."

"Father and son, that's for sure," Derbyshire mumbled with a shake of her head. "No doubt in my mind at all."

Carlisle spilled everything that I had told him previously regarding how Alice felt around me in case it had to do with what happened at school. "Derby, do you think she could be having panic attacks?"

I made a mental note to look up information on panic attacks when I got home. I would have to sacrifice a night of making out with Bella so I could look up some important information. Wait, the entire night? Bella would be more than happy to look up information if it involved Alice, so maybe we could still have half the night to make out. That was the true meaning of multi-tasking in my book. I pushed thoughts of Bella out of my head before my eyes glazed over because then Carlisle and Bridget would know that I was daydreaming about less important matters.

Bridget nodded her head and wrote some notes down. "It very well could be a possibility. I'd still like to keep her overnight for observation. We can monitor her heart rate and see if anything in particular makes it increase."

"Don't let me get around her then. The damn machine will spike," I said sarcastically.

I could tell that Bridget was trying to think of what to say to me so she did what most people did—ignored me. "In the meantime, we're transferring Alice out of the ER and into a room," she supplied, changing the subject before she left to go back to work. Once out of the ER, we wouldn't have to worry about sneaking in Jasper and Bella.

"How'd it work out that you dated Derby before Esme but she's up here in Forks too?" I asked.

"Things didn't work out between Bridget and me because of our hectic schedules, but we were able to remain friends and colleagues. Esme hasn't always liked that. No matter how much you love a woman sometimes, they are still insecure at times. She's never come right out and said it, but I can see the look on her face when Bridget's name is mentioned."

"Oooh oooh, can you ever!" I said, and Carlisle raised an eyebrow at me. "Sorry, do continue."

"After you were taken, Bridget called to offer her condolences or whatnot. She mentioned that she had moved and when Esme needed to get out of California, I looked into Forks because of the way Bridget described it. A position at the hospital was open and here we are."

"Life is weird."

"Indeed it is," he said. "By the way, Edward, the police need to ask you some questions and give a statement. They want to know anything specific about your movements that you can remember."

"My movements? You mean where we lived, how often we moved, that kind of stuff?"

"Right."

"Okay, because I was going to say, my dance moves aren't much to talk about." I also didn't feel the need to talk about my bowel movements.

Carlisle smiled at me. "No, the police don't need to know about your dance moves. Percy will be with you at the station."

"Are you allowed to be there?"

"I can take you, but I doubt I'll be allowed to be in the same room with you," he explained. "They will think that my presence will influence what you say."

"When do I have to do this?" I asked.

"How does Monday sound?" he asked, and I nodded my head in approval. "Okay, Monday it is."

"What's Monday?" I turned around in my seat at the familiar voice behind me.

"What are you doing here already, Bella?" She sat on the back of the couch, swung her legs over it, and slid down between me and Carlisle.

"Um, well, a bunch of us left school early to come and see Alice," she said. "Is she okay?"

"She's feeling better," I said.

Carlisle cleared his throat to get our attention. "How many of you skipped school and how many classes are you missing?"

"Only a few of us that I know of, and we left only one period early."

"Who else came besides you, Mike, Angela?" I asked. Alice talked to more people than Emmett, but I knew she only considered a few classmates close friends.

"Um, Staysa, Monroe, Ciara, Robert, Billy, Jenna, Austen, Heather, Nikki, Rachel, Linsey, Anne, Kellan, Ally, Tyler, Nicole, Kristen, Gil, Apple, Ashley, Solomon, Taylor, and Chris." Bella counted off everyone.

"You call that a few? Are you failing math? That's like, half the school!" I exclaimed in amazement. "Alice sure does know how to make friends."

"Apple? You have a girl named Apple at your school?" Carlisle asked.

"Never had the pleasure of meeting her," I explained. "Does she have a sister named Orange?"

"No, actually, she has a brother named Martini," Bella said with a sly smile.

"What? Are you serious?" I asked.

"No, wow, you are so gullible," Bella laughed and squeezed my hand. "Everyone is waiting outside. I came in first to see what was going on."

"Wait, Staysa came?" I asked. "Is Alice friends with Staysa? Staysa who sniffs and wants Jasper Staysa?"

Carlisle leaned forward. "Some girl at your school sniffs Jasper?"

"And is almost every single one of his classes," I said. "We call her the human bloodhound."

Carlisle shook his head. "Sounds kind of creepy if you ask me."

Out of the corner of my eye I spotted the group of kids from school heading our way. "Oops, bloodhound alert, two o'clock."

At my announcement, Carlisle and Bella noticed their approach. "That's more like three o'clock," Carlisle said.

"I've always been bad at telling time on analog clocks," I explained. The literal crowd approached us and was glad Carlisle was here. I didn't want to have to talk to everyone because I knew they cared about Alice, to a certain degree, and wanted to wish her well. To say it was overwhelming was an understatement. A few of them started to open their mouths at the same time to ask, presumingly, the same damn thing but before anyone could say anything, Carlisle took charge.

"Alice is being moved from the ER to a room and is being kept overnight for observation. I want to thank you all for coming and I know she will appreciate your visit but you will have to wait and visit in small groups as long as she is up to it and her doctor will allow it," he announced loud enough for the entire group to hear but not too loud to disturb others in the lobby.

"Um, excuse me, Dr. Cullen?"

Carlisle turned to one of my classmates who I wasn't familiar with. She was holding a small white box in her hands and seemed nervous. "Hi, my name is Anne, do you remember me?"

"You've been at the house in the past, right?" he asked, but I could tell he was unsure. "You look familiar."

"Right, it's been a while. Alice and I, well, we've drifted apart some after I got a boyfriend but when I heard what happened I was sad and sorry and… I um, had left school early today anyway because of a doctors appointment and I like to bake so made this for Alice," Anne rambled on and then shoved a box toward Carlisle. He opened the box, and I peeked around to see a small cake covered in white icing with purple flowers and writing that said 'Get Well Soon' in an elegant icing script. It looked delicious! "It's yellow cake with a chocolate filling."

"Thank you so much, Anne," Carlisle said as he closed the box and handed it back to her. "Why don't you give it to Alice yourself? With everything going on, I might forget about the cake or who it's from. Don't leave it anywhere near Emmett though, he might inhale it before Alice gets a chance to see it."

Anne agreed and she went to sit down next to some guy that was almost as big as Emmett. Bella leaned over and informed me that the guy was Kellan, Anne's boyfriend of about a year.

Carlisle turned to face me. "Should I feel bad about that?"

"You don't know who the hell she is, do you?"

Carlisle smiled. "As you might say, not a freakin' clue."

The crowd slowly dispersed into smaller groups and took up couches and corners, waiting to see Alice. I couldn't put a name with a face for most of them. Mike, Tyler, and some of the other guys were chased from the lobby by security because they had a hackey sack. The group went outside and found a spot to keep busy. Ciara and Robert were making out in a corner. Anne and Kellan were both being kept busy by their phones while it looked like Staysa was sniffing around some guy named Monroe.

A nurse walked up to Carlisle and informed him that Alice had been moved to a room but not to have every single teenager in Forks visit her at once. Bella, Carlisle, and I went to check on Alice and to find out if she'd like to see all her visitors. While we were in her room I stayed farther away from her, in the back, so I wouldn't cause her too much distress. For the past week she had been having a hard time dealing with how to act around me. Now, I found myself in the same position, unsure of how to act around her. It was decided that Esme would stay with Alice while all her friends slowly visited. They went in small groups, and Esme made sure they only visited for a few minutes. Between all the hustle and bustle, Carlisle somehow found the time to finish seeing his patients and convinced Bridget to cover the rest of his shift.

With everything going on I was totally oblivious to the fact that Rose had been nowhere in sight. She finally showed up with an evil look on her face, and I thought she was going to deck Emmett right there in the lobby. Once Rose found out that Alice had been taken to the hospital she wanted to leave school right away, but her teacher wouldn't let her leave. Frankly, I was surprised she didn't walk out or deck the teacher.

Alice's friends visited and slowly left the hospital grounds all together. The eight of us were together visiting when a dinner tray arrived. Upon hearing Emmett's growling stomach, I knew that it was time for us to leave.

"I'm starving and I wouldn't even eat that," Emmett said while pinching his nose. "What is _that_?"

Alice pushed around the brown gravy covered blob on her tray. "I don't know. Quite frankly, I'm kinda scared of it. Can we get a pizza delivered? Please?"

"I have an excellent idea, dear." Esme said. "Why don't we order a pizza for the two of us and then your father can take everyone else home? I'm sure everyone has had a busy day. I don't plan on leaving you tonight anyway. We can cut into the cake Anne made for dessert." Esme was standing on the right side of Alice's bed with Carlisle next to her. Jasper had been standing watch on her left side.

Emmett must've been in the mood for some sweets because he frowned when Esme mentioned the cake, but he didn't let that sour his mood for long. "I could eat an entire pie by myself. Me and Jazz missed lunch. You did too, right Edward?"

"That's right, I did miss lunch. Maybe that was my stomach growling and not Emmett's." I suggested.

One by one, we wished Alice a goodnight. Everyone stood by her beside and reached over to give her a hug but not me. I was an idiot. I stood next to her bed, wished her a good night, and patted her hand. What the fuck?

"I am such an ass," I mumbled under my breath as we walked out of the hospital and to the cars. "Stupid, stupid, stupid."

Carlisle was leading the way with Jasper while Emmett and Rose were engrossed in a conversation slightly ahead of us. Bella grabbed my arm at my idiotic rant. "What's wrong?" she asked.

"Nothing," I said with a shake of my head. My eyes were trained straight ahead, but I could feel Bella's eyes on me.

"Yeah, sure, I believe that one." She shook her head at me. "I'll buy that bridge you're selling, too."

"Not now," I said, wrapping my arm around her shoulders as we continued to walk. "Later, okay? I'll tell you later."

Bella and I hopped into the backseat of Carlisle's car. I had contemplated going with Emmett but I needed to think about things, and you could rarely think while Emmett was talking up a storm. Carlisle ordered some pizzas and stopped to pick them up before heading home. Once back at Casa de Cullen, we dug into them and I swear, Emmett almost ate one entire pie by himself. Where the hell did he put it and why the hell didn't that guy have a gut?

Carlisle called the hospital to check in on Alice. If it wasn't for the fact that he had been working all day, I would have expected Carlisle to head back to the hospital but I could see that he was tired. Poor Jasper looked like a little lost puppy without Alice at his side. When Bella and I went up to my room I could hear the sound of his guitar drifting through the hallway from Alice's bedroom.

As soon as I closed my bedroom door behind me, Bella turned and brought up our conversation from earlier. "Okay, I don't want the damn bridge. Why were you calling yourself an ass multiple times when we were leaving?" I tried explaining what I was feeling to Bella, but I was suddenly suffering a rare case of silence that even she was surprised. "What? Did they remove your tongue while we were at the hospital?"

"No," I said, sticking my tongue out at her. "I… I just feel guilty about what's going on."

"Alice is sick or something and you feel guilty?" she asked. "Why? There's gotta be more to it."

We sat down and the flood gates of my mouth opened and I told Bella everything. I recalled everything—from the sight of Alice being brought out on the stretcher to Carlisle asking Dr. Derbyshire about Alice suffering from panic attacks. Bella promised not to mention Carlisle's theory to anyone else until we knew if his diagnosis was correct or not. I went downstairs and grabbed Alice's laptop for a few minutes so we could look up information regarding panic attacks. Unlike the last time, we actually managed to keep our hands off one another and found what we were looking for. For the most part, I was beginning to think that Carlisle's thoughts about Alice having a panic attack were incorrect. And then we came across one little bit of information that caught my eye.

_Short-term triggering causes: Significant personal loss, including an emotional attachment to a romantic life partner, life transitions, significant life change, stimulants such as caffeine or nicotine, or other drugs such as marijuana and psilocybin, can act as triggers._

Alice didn't do drugs. I was sure of that. She enjoyed a frappe-something or other from Starbucks sometimes but otherwise didn't indulge in an overabundance of caffeine from coffee or soda.

_Life transitions. Significant life change._

Well, if finding out you had a brother who was kidnapped when he was two days old that you never knew about didn't fit that description, I didn't know what else would. I wondered if it was good to hope that Alice was suffering from panic attacks and not something far worse. I drove Bella home with Carlisle's car and we were met by Charlie, who had found out about Alice and asked how she was doing. Damn freakin' small town. Everyone knew when you were in the hospital or takin' a damn piss.

I had a hard time sleeping that night. I stared at the ceiling for the longest time and tossed and turned. Listening to music didn't help at all. I rolled over and grabbed my little black notebook from my nightstand. Opening it up and flipping on the lamp, I scribbled down a few things.

_Be a better brother._

_Stop blaming yourself._

_Have another plate party with the guys._

I stared at the pages for a minute, trying to decide if anything else was on my tired and overworked mind that night. Finally giving up, I placed the pen and notebook back on the nightstand and turned off the light. After my notebook confessional, sleep came much easier this time.

* * *

**A/N:** Recognize any of the names of Alice's doctor and her friends at the hospital? I named her doctor after my beta Bridget while her friends were named after some of my loyal readers and the cast of the _Twilight_ movie.

And yes, I realize that there's a slim chance in hell that a school official would just let a kid leave school grounds like that. Work with me people.

Many thanks to Staysa the Human Bloodhound who helped me with information on panic attacks.


	25. Saying Goodbye When You Don’t Need To

**DISCLAIMER: ** I'm not Meyer. I'm not Andrews. I'm not a professional writer and don't own any rights to these characters. I just like to make them say a bunch of stuff Meyer would never put to paper.

**A/N:** Many thanks for all the comments and well wishes from the last chapter. As you can tell, this chapter came to me much quicker. I do read all my comments, more than once (or twice…), and try to respond if you ask a question. Otherwise, it gets kind of repetitious to just say "Thanks for reading" every single time. In regards to the commenters on Twilighted, I really have stopped responding over there all together. Most people don't realize you can change your settings to be notified when an author responds to you. So if I go and respond, you'll never know anyway and I wasted my time for nothing. If you really want an answer to something the best thing for you to do is to post at fan fic[dot]net, my thread at Twilighted, or follow me on Twitter (LegacyFF). But please, the peeps over at Twilighted, don't stop commenting! I love comments! I'm a comment whore! If you want a response back, use one of the other methods to get in touch with me.

The final scene of this chapter was actually inspired by a commenter over on Twilighted. They posted that they thought Edward wasn't dealing enough with his emotions. I was mulling that over and thought of the end scene. So please, I do love to hear from you. You may never know what you may encourage me to write!

The shopping trip will be in the next chapter. I am now accepting suggestions for Christmas presents. Please pass your thoughts on this subject to me! I have a few ideas but am totally clueless at other character/present combination's. Remember, although Edward technically has money now, he's not used to spending it on himself or others.

To the person who said that I forgot to include Jackson Rathbone in Alice's list of friends – I used his real first name—Monroe—instead of his middle name (Jackson). I's tricky like that!

* * *

**Chapter 25: Saying Good-bye (When You Don't Need To)**

The next morning I didn't wake up to the usual smell of breakfast being cooked downstairs. Yeah, I had heard that Carlisle wasn't much of a cook at all. While I hopped in the shower, I prayed there was some cereal in the house. Hell, I'd settle for a pop tart or toast.

Today was an anniversary of sorts. It wasn't the usual anniversary that people always happily celebrated. A week ago today my life was turned upside down after the dance and within a few hours I found out I wasn't who I thought I was. I thought I was doing pretty damn well adjusting for the most part.

You know, aside from causing my sister to have panic attacks, my brother had started lying to our parents, I punched a locker, I caused Esme to cry, and Carlisle didn't seem to know what to do with me. Oh, and I couldn't bring myself to call my parents anything but their first names. I still didn't know what to do with my feelings for Peter and Elizabeth Masen. No matter how hard I tried, I still thought of them often. Did they really love me? Why did they take me? Was everything they ever did and said to me a lie?

Hell, I was surprised _I_ wasn't the one having panic attacks. That was all I fucking needed.

Turning off the shower, I vowed I wasn't going to be the next one to fall apart. I dried off and wrapped myself in the towel while I brushed my teeth. When I opened the door and stepped back into my bedroom, I found Emmett lounging on my bed with a rectangular box.

"You are so lucky that I don't like to walk around naked in my room," I told him. "What the hell are you doing here so early?"

"Hello and good morning to you too, sunshine. I'm good by the way," he said, sitting up and stretching.

"Good morning, Emmett," I said while heading to my closet. "Now, what the hell do you want?"

"Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed," he stated calmly. "Carlisle asked me to bring this up to you."

I grabbed a gray t-shirt, the green button up shirt that Alice had bought for me, and then got a pair of jeans, boxers, socks from my dresser. "What is it?"

Emmett held up the box. "Well, it says HP as in Hewlett Packard, so I do believe it'd be a laptop."

"For me?" I continued to stand next to my dresser with my clothes in my arms. I wasn't going to drop my towel in front of Emmett.

"No, for my smart, funny, smart ass brother who seems to have disappeared and been replaced with your cranky pain in the ass," he said and rose from my bed. "There's breakfast downstairs when you're ready."

"Emmett, wait, I'm sorry if it seems like I'm being an ass," I said still standing near by dresser while Emmett paused at the door. "I didn't mean to take it out on you."

"I know." He stared at me for a moment. "We're all worried about Alice. Find the brother that I like—you know, the smart, funny smart ass—and send his ass downstairs. Cranky pants can stay up here."

Emmett turned and left, closing the door behind him without another word. I changed, grabbed my backpack, and headed downstairs to the kitchen. Placing my bag on the back of my chair, I now smelled food but it didn't smell as good as Esme's. Emmett helped Rose and the two of them made scrambled eggs, toast, and bacon. The eggs weren't runny, the toast wasn't burnt, and the bacon was cooked well enough so that it wasn't all white and fatty. It wasn't Esme's cooking, but at least their future children wouldn't starve to death.

Grabbing a glass, I poured myself some milk and filled a plate up with food. Carlisle was perusing through the newspaper or at least trying to. "Mornin', Carlisle. Any update on Alice?" I asked as I put my plate and glass down and then slid into my seat.

Jasper appeared at the bottom of the stairs and walked over to us. "How's Alice?"

"I was just going to tell Edward that I called and they said her heart rate and oxygen levels were fine overnight," he said while folding the newspaper. "She's going to be released later today but I want her to take it easy."

"No incidents or anything?" I asked.

"No, none at all last night although Esme thinks she had a bad dream because she was all over the bed at one point for a few minutes."

Jasper sighed and sat down. "She can be a kicker in her sleep." Realizing what he said, Jasper now had a weird look on his face. I guessed that Jasper never talked to Carlisle about the fact that he was sleeping in the same bed as his daughter. I'd be mortified too if I had to fess up to Charlie about sleeping in the same bed as Bella.

"I know what you two are up to," Carlisle admitted with a slight blush to his cheeks. "Whose health insurance do you think Alice is under? Esme and I talk about these things too. I wasn't letting any daughter of mine go on birth control without a good reason."

"I'm glad at least one of us has a cool set of parents between us," Jasper said as he got up to get some breakfast and he patted Carlisle's shoulder when he walked past. "Thanks, Mr. C."

"What's with the laptop?" I asked between bites of food. "I didn't ask for one."

"Alice and Emmett each have one of their own," Carlisle explained. "Esme and I thought that it'd be best for you to have one too."

"Oh, um, well, thanks. That was quite unexpected and generous of you," I confessed. Jazz offered to go through everything with me since I was the least technological of all of us. I learned what was taught in school, but other than that, I had minimal experience with computers because I never owned one. Gathering information on the Internet was about as far as I ever got. I didn't even have an email address.

When everyone had sat down at the table, Carlisle spoke up again. "I know you were supposed to make a trip to Port Angeles tonight, but Esme and I feel that Alice shouldn't go."

"You do know she's gonna wanna kill you for saying 'no' to shopping, right, Carlisle?" Jasper asked.

"Make sure there are no sharp knives around when you tell Alice you're canceling a shopping trip," Rose said. "Otherwise, you never know where a knife may land."

"Since I feel like keeping all my body parts intact, Esme thought it'd be a good idea if we put the trip off until tomorrow," Carlisle explained. "That way, we could go with you. We don't have to be with you the entire time but it would make us feel a lot better if we were nearby."

I tried imagining Carlisle and Esme hanging out at the mall. Nope, couldn't quite picture it. "What are you going to do all day while we're there?"

"Probably holding Esme's purse while she shops for shoes," Carlisle groaned. "Or handbags."

Emmett laughed. "Dad, you are so whipped."

"I know, I know!" Carlisle said with a shake of his head. "You all need to get going to school. I'll take care of the dishes and then head to the hospital."

"Give Alice a kiss for me when you see her, okay?" Jasper asked as he slung his bag over his shoulder.

"Will do," Carlisle said. "When you get home she'll be here too."

Jasper started to get into a funk again. "Good, I miss her."

"We all do, Jasper," I told him. "Come on man, let's go to school so we can get this day over with."

Jasper and I picked up Bella with his car and then we met Emmett and Rose at school. In the parking lot we were being stared at once again. Ciara and Robert saw us and ran over to us. "Hey, how's Alice? There's nothing really serious with her, is there?" Ciara asked while holding onto Robert's hand. "Is she going to get out of the hospital soon?"

Robert laughed. "Baby, one question at a time."

"She's going to come home later today. Thanks for asking about her," Emmett informed them. "We'll tell her you said hello."

And that's how most of the day went. The other students stared and then slowly gained confidence to greet me and asked how Alice was doing. Every single one of them said almost the same thing and reacted the same way. For the day, the conversations were stuck on repeat. How was Alice? Is she going to be okay? What's wrong with her? Is she coming home? Please tell her we said hello. We'll call later this weekend. Tell her if she needs to talk to call us.

At the end of the day I was worn out and stressed. I wanted nothing better than to climb into my own bed with Bella, cuddle, and fall asleep in her arms. Wow, I really must have been out of it because I left out the option of making out with Bella. What the hell was wrong with me?

Between Alice's sickness and my anniversary of officially becoming a Cullen, I was on edge and wanted nothing more than for the weekend to fly by. I had a bad feeling that wasn't going to happen.

When we arrived home that afternoon Carlisle was right—Alice was upstairs in her room. She was watching a movie but paused it as soon as we all burst through her door. Jasper dropped his bag on my foot and practically ran to her bedside. For once in my life, I actually restrained my verbal diarrhea and simply removed the bag from my foot and placed it against the wall where it was joined by our bags as well.

"How ya feelin', Midg?" I asked from the foot of her bed. Bella was standing next to me, holding my hand while everyone else had sat down on Alice's bed.

"I'm feeling okay, Eddie. Glad to no longer be hooked up to those damn monitors," she said as Jasper wrapped his arm around her shoulders and she sunk into him.

"You look tired, sis." Emmett commented. "Didn't they let you get any sleep last night?"

"Between the beeping of the machines, Mom hovering, and the nurses coming in every two hours to take my temperature and blood pressure, no, I didn't get much sleep," she said stifling a yawn. "And they wondered why I wanted to sleep through breakfast?"

"Damn bitches!" I exclaimed, and Alice burst out laughing. "Esme must be tired too then?"

"Yeah, Dad told her to go take a nap as soon as we got home but she went and made a few phone calls first," she said. "I'm sorry, I'm about to pass out as well."

"You know we're not going shopping tonight, right baby?" Jasper asked.

"Dad broke the news to me, and I'm actually okay with that," she said. "We can make a day of it tomorrow and take our time. I do _not_ want to end up back in that damn hospital. You still need to get things, right, Eddie?"

"Yeah, but it's not really important, Midg. If you need to stay home you should. Bella can go with me and show me around the mall, right?"

"And how are you going to get there?" Alice asked with a sly smile.

"Damned if I know," I confessed. "Flap our arms and fly? Oh, Rose dear, how's your car doing?" I knew Rose's car was in the shop being looked at because she was having some trouble with the transmission. She and Emmett knew how to work on cars to a certain degree, but they couldn't figure out what was wrong and it had to be looked at by a professional.

"The poor girl is still in the shop," Rose said. "I think it might need a new transmission."

"Ouch," I said. "I'm not all that worried about the shopping, Midg."

"I want to go so as long as I get some sleep and feel better, I'm going tomorrow." Alice said sternly. Clearly, she had her mind made up and was not going to be talked out of a shopping excursion. It could be put on hold but not called off completely.

"Just don't over do it tomorrow," Emmett said. "I don't want to be carrying you to the car because you passed out or some shit."

Bella laughed next to me. "Em, you were totally channeling Edward there."

"Emmett's right though," Jasper said. "Don't over do it tomorrow, okay?" He took her hand and squeezed it.

"I won't over do it." Alice turned and planted a kiss on Jasper's cheek and then turned to us. "Okay, if we're doing this tomorrow, I need to catch a few Z's now!"

She shooed us away, including Jasper, and we headed out her door but something felt off for me. "I need a minute with Alice, don't worry, I'll be quick," I said before rushing back into her room and closing the door behind me. "How I left yesterday… well, that was really fucked up. I'm sorry."

Alice had started to lie down but sat back up when I entered. Slowly, I made my way toward her bed and sat down on the edge next to her. "I don't want you to be stressing out because of me." Alice tried to speak, but I ignored her and continued. "You mean a lot to me and I don't want you feeling like you're having a heart attack and ready to pass out because you're afraid of getting me all upset. Just be yourself, Midg. The rest will fall into place… eventually."

"Get your skinny little ass over here and give me a hug," she said with a smile.

I edged closer to Alice and wrapped my arms around her short frame. "So, in other words, knock your shit off and act like yourself."

Alice chuckled and removed her arms from me. "I'll be damned if I can figure out how Bella ever fell for you."

"Honestly, that makes the two of us. I'll go now so you can take a nap." As I rose from my position on the bed, I leaned over and kissed Alice on the forehead. "I'll send your little whore boy up in an hour or so to wake you. Deal, Midg?"

"Thanks, Eddie," she said. "Thanks for the talk."

"No problem, sis, I'll see you later."

While Alice slept, the rest of us did our homework. After an hour Jasper went upstairs to check on Alice and found her still sleeping peacefully, so he decided to let her nap more. In the meantime, Bella and Rose were doing girly things in Alice's room, and Jasper and Emmett helped me set up my brand spankin' new laptop. They did a system back up in case it crashed in the future, which was a possibility because of my lack of knowledge in regards to technology. One wrong press of a key and kablowie! Computers couldn't blow up literally, right? Emmett configured it so that I could connect to the internet via the wireless router, whatever the hell that was. All I knew was that it enabled me to get onto the internet. Although I didn't see much need for an email address, they both thought I should sign up for a free Gmail account. Then we had the task of figuring out what I wanted my user name to be. I didn't even want to mention the crude, rude, and weird things Emmett suggested. That boy was seriously sick and twisted at times. And I mean worse than me! Who would've thunk it, huh? I settled on eacullen91 because it was something I'd easily remember.

Even though my mind was being kept occupied with Jasper and Emmett, I kept on thinking of one thing. With Alice so unsure of her position in my life and not knowing how to act around me, I thought it might be a good idea to give her the letter that was supposed to be my goodbye. Then again, if I showed Alice hers and the others found out about it, would they want their letters too?

Esme woke from her nap and started the process of making dinner. Since she still looked tired, I offered to help. All we needed was another female in this family to be in the hospital. Jasper went upstairs, woke Alice up, and they came back downstairs. Dinner was a calm experience. We mostly told Alice about all her well wishers at school. For once, it was nice for everyone's eyes to be on someone else rather than me.

After dinner, Carlisle shooed us away and said that he'd help Esme clean up. We usually all hung out in Emmett's room because it was so large and he had the most awesome entertainment center. Instead, that night we gathered in Alice's room with her more modest thirty-two inch flat screen television (as opposed to Emmett's sixty-five incher) and decided to bunker down for a movie. That way, Alice could be comfortable in her bed, and if she fell asleep we could leave and not worry about moving her. Emmett and Rose took the couch while Bella and I stretched out on the end of Alice's large bed. By the end of the movie I thought she would've passed out from exhaustion but she was still wide awake.

"How ya feelin', Midg?" I turned so I could see the expression on her face.

"Okay, I guess," she shrugged her shoulders. Jasper was sitting next to her and she was leaning against him. "I'm a little tired but I don't want to go to sleep for the night yet."

My eyes fell to the bed where her hands were resting. Her fingers were twisting the comforter and I flashed back to the hospital and to when she was twisting the sheets. I covered her hand with mine. "Calm down," I said and sat up. "I'll be right back." I ran over to my room, opened my closet door, removed the lid on the large Rubbermaid container, and dug out the letters I had written.

_Here goes nothing._

Back in Alice's room, I walked over to her bed with my head down staring at the manila envelope in my hands that the letters were in. Jasper was sitting on Alice's left so I settled on the right side of the bed. Bella was sitting up at the end of the bed while Emmett and Rose were still on the couch.

"What's going on, Eddie?"

"I never stayed in one town for very long—fifteen states in seventeen years is a lot. Before coming to Forks I never even tried to make friends. I had decided long ago that it wasn't worth getting close to people to have to be torn from them weeks or months later," I explained. "And then you all came into my life. For a while there, I thought I was going to have to leave again. When that time came, I wanted to be able to thank you all for your friendship, but I didn't know how. Somehow it came to me to write letters to all of you and I'd go and mail them to Emmett and ask him to pass them out to everyone."

As I opened the manila envelope, I felt all their eyes trained on me. "So, Midg, with everything going on, I thought maybe you should read your letter."

I took out the stack of letters, all of them neatly folded with their names on the outside, and sifted through them until I found Alice's. "I think you need to read it so you stop stressing out so much," I said as I passed Alice her letter. "Here."

Alice took it from me tentatively and slowly opened it. I sat and watched her read it, her eyes darting back and forth over the words. She smiled, bit her lip, and laughed. And then she sniffed and she had tears in her eyes.

"_Thank you for embracing me and for accepting me into your family, no questions asked. Thank you for the wonderful memories. You have given me many things, but I will cherish the memories of being with you the most,"_ Alice recited from the letter. Alice wiped away her tears with the back of her hand. "Aw, Eddie."

Jasper, who I assumed was able to read the entire letter over Alice's shoulder, spoke up. "That was really sweet. Do we get to see our letters now too?"

"I brought them here because I assumed you'd all want yours after I gave Alice hers," I confessed while looking through the letters for Jasper's and handing it over to him. "I guess you're next."

He opened the letter and started reading. _"In between Lincoln and Johnson, there was Hale,"_ he laughed. "That was good. I'm sure Drummond wanted to kill us that day."

Jasper continued to read. _"Thank you for the clothes, the fun times and, most importantly, letting me be your friend. I appreciate everything you have done for me and will always remember you, whore."_

"Your letter was the first one I wrote," I said nervously.

"I can tell, it's not as heart felt as Alice's," he said. I was stunned but Jasper cracked a smile. "I'm kidding, man! I appreciate the thought of you wanting to say good-bye to us. I know these letters must have been hard to write."

"Shit, whore!" I laughed and retrieved Rose's letter from the pile. "Rose, you're up next."

Jasper took the letter from me and passed it over to Rose on the couch. She looked at Emmett, then the letter, and started to read. As she read the words she smiled and like Alice and Jasper, chose a passage to recite out loud. "_Rose, you have a very warm and open heart. That's what those girls in school are jealous of. They know that you are better than all of them put together. You're also wrapped…"_ her voice trailed off and she cleared her throat. Remembering what I had written, I was glad that Rose had chosen not to read that specific portion aloud. Then she laughed and spoke again, "_Speaking of Emmett, I wish the two of you the best of luck. I can't believe the two of you danced around each other for so long. He's a great guy and he'll treat you like a Princess. Always remember to turn your bitch switch on when you have to."_

Rose held the letter against her chest. Emmett put his arm around her shoulders and she leaned into him while he placed a kiss on her forehead. "Thanks, Edward, I love it."

"Am I next?" Emmett asked.

I nodded and saw my note of 'Open First' on Emmett's letter. So much for that! "Kind of fitting, too. Yours and Bella's were the last two I wrote."

Once again Jasper took the letter from me and passed it to Emmett. He opened it up and started reading from the very beginning.

"_Dear Emmett, _

_If you're reading this letter then it means my family had to leave Forks. I wasn't sure that I'd be able to say a proper good-bye to everyone. I decided that I'd write letters to all of you and mail them to your house for everyone. Please make sure everyone gets their letter so they can read them._

_Thank you for accepting me into your small circle of friends. I was honored beyond belief when you referred to me as a friend after such a short amount of time. Thank you for accepting me as I am and not judging me. You wanted to help me, but you never made jokes about my social status. You saw my room and you questioned it, but you never made any rude comments like some people would have. You just shrugged your shoulders and waved it off like everyone uses a huge ass Rubbermaid container as a dresser._

_Be good to Rose and I know she'll be good to you. She's a great gal and she's been crushin' on you for a long time. I can't believe you thought she was interested in me. Then again, you failed kindergarten so you can be slow at times. HA HA HA I had to take one last kindergarten-related stab at you, even if it's in a letter. Sometimes, I just can't help myself."_

Emmett paused. "I'm sure that won't be your last kindergarten-related stab at me now."

"Damn skippy," I said. "Do continue."

"_Thank you for the good times in English, Photography, and lunch. Thank you for accepting me into your home. Thank you for all the rides to and from work, school, and everywhere else we went."_

Emmett paused and bit his lip, but he couldn't seem to continue. He stared at the letter for a moment and one of his gigantic hands swiped at his eyes. Clearing his throat, he opened his mouth but nothing came out. Finally he managed to eek out an 'excuse me' which was barely audible while his eyes were trained on the floor. He rose from the couch and then up and out of Alice's room he went, closing the door behind him.

"I think you just made Emmett cry!" Rose exclaimed. "_I_ can't make Emmett cry!"

"I didn't mean to!" I said. "Should I go check on him?"

Rose shook her head at me. "Uh huh. I'm sure he doesn't want any of us girls seeing him in that state. Right, Jazz?"

"Probably, although, with all of us being as close as we are, maybe not. I don't know. Edward, it's your fault, you go!" Jasper said unconvincingly.

"Aww, man." I said with a shaky voice. "He's gonna wanna kill me. I don't have a will. Then again, I don't have anything to give to anyone. You already have your letters."

Bella leaned toward me and squeezed my knee. "He won't kill you. He might want to hurt you, but he won't kill you."

"Some supportive girlfriend you are!"

"I'm just callin' 'em as I see 'em, honey," she said with a shrug of her shoulders. "Go talk to your brother."

As I walked to the door, I knew they were all staring at me. I felt like I was an inmate on death row. "Godspeed, Edward!" Rose said with a slight smile. She loved this.

I glanced at Rose and stuck my tongue out at her. "Stop that!"

When I opened Alice's door, I immediately spotted Emmett sitting on the steps with his back facing me. I slowly walked over to him, my heart in my throat, unsure of how he was going to react to me at this time. His chin was resting on his right hand, which was formed into a fist, while he clutched his letter in his left hand. Staring straight ahead, he greeted me when he heard me.

"I can't read the rest of it out loud," he sniffed. "Not in front of them."

"So read it to me."

Emmett continued to stare straight ahead. "You wrote the letter. You know what it says."

I shrugged my shoulders. "So read it to me anyway."

He exhaled and wiped at his eyes once again. I don't think any tears had fallen down his cheeks, but he was more emotional right now than he'd ever like to be. Holding the letter in front of him, Emmett started to read the remaining words.

"_Thank you for thinking I was cool enough to hang with you and your friends. Both you and Alice have such warm and generous hearts. Don't ever let anyone take advantage of you because of your generosity. Don't ever change who you are for anyone. Thank you for your advice and your camaraderie. Thank you for being you. Thank you for being the brother I never had. Love you and I will never forget you… Edward."_

His voice cracked near the end again and I could see him blinking rapidly. "I knew you could read, you big galoot. You didn't fail Kindergarten so bad after all."

Emmett's shoulders started to shake and I feared an avalanche of tears. I was relieved when I heard laughter erupt from his chest. "You are never going to let me live that down, are you?"

"Hell no! I've got years of picking on you to make up for!"

He finally turned his head and looked at me. "I'm the older brother; I'm supposed to pick on you, not the other way around!"

"Pft," I said and pretended to punch his shoulder. "You're such a nice guy, I know you would've switched it up for me!"

"Oh yeah?" he laughed. "Think again!"

How a big guy like Emmett could move so fast was beyond me. Before I knew it he had gotten up from his position on the stairs, grabbed me, and picked me up. I was half draped over his shoulder with my skinny ass in the air, my legs dangling across his chest.

"Don't throw me down the stairs!" I yelled. "I won't make it out alive!"

Alice's bedroom door swung open at my loud and exuberant pleas for help. "What are you doing?" Rose said sternly. "Emmett, put Edward down!"

"He's trying to kill me!" I said excitedly. "I'm sorry, Emmett!"

"Put my brother down!" Alice yelled from her place on the bed. "Bella, go save your boyfriend!"

Jasper and Bella appeared in the doorway behind Rose. "Emmett's finally gone off his rocker," Jasper mumbled lowly. "Too bad there's gotta be casualties!"

"Jasper!" Bella punched Jasper's arm. "Go help Edward."

I wasn't used to being upside down for such a long period of time. All the blood in my body felt like it was rushing to my head. "Let me down, doofus, I'm getting light headed."

"I wasn't killing him, damn it," Emmett said as he placed me back on my feet. "I was just putting a good scare into him."

Jasper had come over to help me and Emmett had put me upright too quickly. Dizzy as hell, I swayed and knocked into Jasper and the two of us ended up in a pile on the floor. I heard Bella and Rose laughing their cute collective asses off. "Emmett, maybe it's a good thing we didn't grow up together after all. I think I'd be entirely gray thanks to you."

"Not only that, but I probably would've had some broken bones trying to save your skinny little ass," Jasper said. "Get off me, damn it!"

I rolled off of Jasper and looked up to see that Alice had joined Bella and Rose in the doorway. "I wish I would have seen this happening," Alice said with a smirk. "I would have totally taped it."

"Feelin' the love, totally am." Emmett extended his hand to Jasper and helped him up. Then he did the same for me. The girls shook their heads at each other, smiled, and walked back into Alice's room. Jasper gave us a quick look and then followed the girls.

I turned to Emmett, who had a huge grin on his face. "I didn't mean to make you cry, man."

"I know." He bent down, picked the letter up off the floor, and shoved it in his back pocket. "I knew it was a good-bye letter, but I didn't think it was going to go like that."

"That's what those types of letters are for, doofus." I smiled. "To say good-bye and tell someone what you think of them."

"Yeah, well, I didn't expect that," he shrugged. "And now I'm the brother you do have."

"I'm beginning to think you got the better end of the bargain." I winked, and he started laughing. "You didn't read that other part. At the very bottom."

Emmett reached into his pocket and withdrew the letter. Unfolding it, stared at the page and read it partially aloud. "_He's my best friend…He's my champion…'Cause he's the savior of the universe…He can love…He's my brother… My brother won't let you down."_

He folded the letter again and put it back in his pocket. "I'm no savior of… anything."

"Oh, just shut up and bask in the glow of me looking up to you," I said with a smile.

"You're always looking up to me, I hover over you."

I stepped toward him and squatted at him. "Well, in this case, I'm not talking about height."

He exhaled and turned to me. "Let's get back in there, moron."

"Shut up, dumbass."

"No way, poopy head."

"Poopy head?" I laughed. "Is that the best ya got?"

"Come on, bro." Emmett looked at me nervously, and I suddenly found myself in an embrace of big bro smothering. "Love you too, man."

He let me go from the hug and then put me in a headlock and ruffled my hair, not that anyone would notice with my hair being in an already messed up state. He dragged me in the headlock position to the door and then let me go.

"You two okay?" Bella asked.

I went and joined her at the foot of Alice's bed while Emmett rejoined Rose on the couch. "Yeah, we're good."

Bella picked up her letter up off the bed, held it between two of her fingers, and waved it at me. "Am I next?"

I remembered getting all emotional when I wrote Bella's letter. "Um, actually, can you read it later? It's kind of sappy and shit and I'd rather you not read it in front of everyone."

She thought about for a few seconds and quickly shrugged her shoulders. "That's okay with me. One of us has already cried this evening. I don't want to join that club."

"So I'm sensitive, shut up!" Emmett shouted. "I'm never going to live that down, am I?"

Rose leaned against Emmett's side and wrapped her arms around his waist. "Hell no, we'll never let you forget it. Don't be afraid to cry though. It just means that you have feelings."

"Yeah, why can't men cry?" Alice asked.

"It's a Class 4 Man Code Violation. Section 2, Paragraph 5, Subsection 14," Jasper said. "It's a big no no."

What the fuck were they talking about? I had no idea, but Bella called him out on it. "You are so full of it. There is no damn Man Code."

The next ten minutes were spent arguing over whether or not there was a Man Code, what it consisted of, and the three girls calling it a bunch of bullshit. Jasper and Emmett _were_ full of it, but I tried to back them as much as possible even though I was mostly clueless. If they abided by a so-called Man Code, I had no idea what it detailed. Emmett and Rose left to go to Emmett's room, so I stuffed Bella's letter in my pocket and we said goodnight to Alice and Jasper and then went up to my room.

No sooner did I close my door than I felt myself being pushed up against it by Bella. "Where's my letter?" Her body was flush against mine and her fingers were hooked in the belt loops of my jeans. If she really wanted an answer then she shouldn't have started kissing me. Why did girls do that? They confuse the… oh hey now, where did her hands just go? I wrapped my arms around the beautiful girl in my arms and pushed her against me more. Her hands had wandered underneath my shirt and up my chest while she trailed kisses along my neck.

"Hello, sweet torture!" I groaned as my hands slid down and latched onto Bella's ass.

The sweet sound of laughter echoed in my ears. "You are too easy."

"Shhhh, don't spread that around," I chided her. "You might have to beat the girls off of me with a stick."

"I'll carry around a baseball bat if I have to," she said. "Now, where's my letter?"

"Back pocket of my jeans." As her teeth nibbled on my ear, her hands slowly traveled down my back and then each one slid into my back pockets. Instead of simply retrieving her letter and exiting my back pocket, she went and squeezed my ass. "Gah, woman, knock that off!"

Untangling herself from me, Bella smiled and stepped back. "I love it that I can make you so damn excited that you don't know what to do with yourself."

"You torture me in that way quite frequently, love," I said. "Let's go sit down."

I sat down on my bed with my back against the wall and Bella settled down in between my legs. "Am I going to need tissues like Emmett?"

Shrugging my shoulders, I answered honestly. "I really don't know. It depends on how emotional you are."

"Hello, I'm a female if you haven't noticed." Bella leaned her back against me, and I was able to lean forward and see her cleavage. The front of her shirt was not short enough to show much. Maybe I should talk Alice into buying Bella some nice plunging V-neck shirts. Oh, shit, I was horrible. Horrible and horny. Yeah, I was a normal teenage boy.

I snaked my arms around her waist. "Trust me, I know you're a female. There's tissues on the nightstand if you need 'em. Start anytime you're ready."

Bella unfolded her letter and started reading. Ten seconds later she spoke, "Damn right you confused me you stupid fuck!"

"Such a potty mouth, do continue," I instructed.

She went back to the letter, speaking random sentences aloud. "_I haven't let myself open up to anyone in a long time. I can't tell you how much I'm going to miss you. I love each of you in a different way._" Bella reached down and took one of my hands in hers.

"_I'll always remember our trip to Wal-Mart and our first kiss in the photo booth,_" she said reminiscing. "I'll always remember that too, even if I did want to ask Emmett to kick your ass at the end of the day."

She laughed and threw her head back against my chest. "_Thank you for being patient and understanding. Thank you for having a father that forgets to wear his holster so he can't shoot me with his pistol when he catches me in his daughter's bed._"

Then Bella squeezed my hand and sniffed. Uh oh, it seemed as if tissue time may soon be upon us. "_I will never, ever forget you… my time with you… or how important you became to me."_

Folding the letter back up, Bella leaned over and placed it on the nightstand. She moved herself sideways in my lap so I could see her face. "Thank you," she said. "Edward, that was beautiful and funny and so… _you_. I would've never thought you could write something like that."

"I got mad skills like that. You know, like skills with a z at the end." She laughed, and I buried my face in her hair. "I thought I was going to have to leave. I wanted everyone to know how important they were to me."

"You're important to us too," she said glancing up at me. "You know that, right?"

"I guess," I said shrugging my shoulders. "I never really thought about it."

"You are, you effin' moron. And I mean that in the most affectionate way possible." Bella smiled at me, and I immediately melted into another pile of big horny goo.

I leaned down and placed a kiss on her forehead. She turned, tilted her head toward me, and I inched my face closer until our lips met. We kissed in that position until we needed to breathe.

"Bella," I said while gasping for air. "Do you think you could stay the night?"

"I don't know," she said smugly. Bella moved out of my arms and I wanted to complain and whine like a little boy who lost his favorite toy until I saw that she had simply lain down on my bed. Ah, a more comfortable position. Fuck, I didn't care the reasons behind it. Bella was lying on my bed and patting the space next to her. "Get over here and kiss me like that again. Maybe then I'll tell you if I can spend the night."

Fuckin' tease! But, oooh, please say yes, please say yes, please say yes.

I practically bolted out of my position on the bed—can you say overeager?—and landed next to Bella. And cue another really great make out session between the two of us where I saw, dare I utter the word aloud—BOOB! Swear to God, I nearly fainted.

Holy shit, it was gorgeous, but my sneak peak was a bit of an accident. Bella let my hands wander up her shirt and under her bra. We made a change of position and her shirt shifted and the utter delectable delight of the Gods snuck out for a minute and waved at me. Not literally, but you get the fuckin' point. And cue a fuckin' hard on. I groaned and Bella took that as sign that I liked how she was nibbling at my neck and she threw herself more into her task.

Was it possible to die from a raging boner? Probably. I was guessing the technical medical term would have to do more with the fact that all the blood in my body had pooled to some place other than my head. You know, not the one on my shoulders.

But OH MY GOD women have the most horrible timing, and that was when Bella decided to pull away from me. I groaned into her neck and said a silent adios to BOOB. I shall see you at another time. At least I hoped and prayed so. _Say hello to your twin for me, mmm? Maybe both of you can come out and play next time._

"Any special reason you wanted me to stay over?"

I was on my back, and Bella was in one of those in between positions of being partially on top of me but off to the side. Her forearm was propped up and resting against my chest. And now she expected me to form a coherent thought. After I saw BOOB. "I, uh…" I trailed off. "Oh yeah, um, you know my life was turned upside down a week ago. I was hoping to hold onto something a little familiar tonight."

"Excuse accepted," she said and stretched out against me. "We have to go back to my house so I can get a few things though."

"Damn," I was quite comfortable in our current position. "You don't feel like wearing the same thing tomorrow, huh?"

"No, not at all," she said. "And I don't have anything to wear to bed."

"Oh, hell, you can sleep naked!" Oh, the thought of Bella's naked body up against mine was almost too much to handle.

"I don't think so, buddy." And with those words she ever so slowly pinched my nipple. HARD.

"Ouch!" My voice was high and cracked like a twelve year old boy going through puberty. "Let go the nipple, woman!"

"That was for suggesting that," she informed me. "As comfortable as I am lying here with you, if I'm staying over I think it'd be a good time to go back to my place."

I agreed even though I could've stayed in our current position all night long. Carlisle let us take his car over to Bella's to get some of her things.

"Bella, am I driving too slow or something?" I asked on the way to her house.

"No, I don't think so." She leaned over to catch a glimpse of the speedometer. "You're going within the speed limit."

"That's what I thought." I squinted from the bright lights in my rear view mirror. "What the hell is it with people following me too closely?"

"They're just impatient jackasses," she said as I pulled into her driveway. The car behind us continued down the road, and I saw Charlie's police cruiser in the driveway. "Great, Charlie is home. Wait here and I'll be right back."

"Are you sure you want to face him by yourself?" I asked seriously. "I'll go with you if you want."

Bella thought it'd be better if she went alone to gather some things. When she came back out five minutes later, she told me that she used Alice, not me, as an excuse to sleep over. Oh, my girl was so damn smart. When we got back to the house I put the keys to Carlisle's car where he had instructed me to and we headed back up to my room.

Because girls always took longer with anything involving the bathroom, I went and changed, washed my face, and brushed my teeth first. I got into bed and got comfortable while Bella did what ever it was girls did while they hogged the bathroom at night. I stretched out and stared at the clock.

The display read 12:00 a.m. One week ago my life officially began to unravel from the lies it had been built on. I could feel Emmett and Charlie's grip on me as they held me back from running to Liz Masen.

"_Edward!"_

"_Mom?"_

Closing my eyes, I tried to stop the tape of my memory from re-airing in my brain.

"_I need to take you to the police station."_

Fuck, it wasn't working.

"_How have Peter and Elizabeth Masen treated you over the years?"_

"Edward? Are you okay?" I could hear Bella's voice, but it seemed like it was so far away.

"_When you were two days old, you were kidnapped from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles."_

I broke free of the memories in sat up in bed. "Edward, what was going on just then?" Bella was concerned about me, but I wasn't sure how to explain certain things to her. "Honey, you look like a deer when it's caught in a set of headlights."

I patted the space next to me and attempted to plaster on a fake smile. "I'll be fine." From the look on her face, I knew Bella was accepting my words but didn't believe me. I had a horrible poker face, really I did. We lay down next to one another, our limbs entwined. "I'll be fine," I repeated, unsure if it was for more of her benefit or mine.

"You know you can talk to me, right?" Bella's hand was splayed out and resting on my chest, above my heart. "About anything you need to."

"Yeah, it's just hard to talk when you don't know what to say about your life being ripped to shreds." Turning in her arms, I moved us so that we were lying on our sides. I slid down so that Bella's chin was resting on the top of my head. My arms were wrapped around Bella's waist and I could feel her hands running through my hair. Time passed and her movements ceased, her breathing changed, and I knew she had fallen asleep.

And I couldn't seem to.

Very carefully, I removed myself from Bella's embrace and got out of bed. Not wanting to wake her up, I quietly left my room and cautiously made my way downstairs. I paced the kitchen. I paced the living room. My eyes landed on the door to the basement which Emmett called the gym. It wasn't much of a traditional gym, but it held some work out equipment the family used. I opened the door, felt for the light switch on the wall, and headed down the flight of stairs. I scanned the room, silently remembering each piece of equipment and where it was located from the time Emmett had brought me down here. I should really start working out with Emmett and Jasper. I'd like to look like something other than a prepubescent eleven year old boy when I took my shirt off. I could have used the treadmill, but the thought of running in place right now didn't appeal to me. For safety reasons, I didn't want to use any of the equipment that would normally require a spotter. That left out lifting weights. I shouldn't use the weight machine at night anyway—the clanking of the metal might wake someone.

And that's when I found my answer. It hung dangling from the ceiling, covered in a red material, just waiting to be pounded on.

"_When you were two days old, you were kidnapped from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles."_ Charlie's words echoed once again in my head and with my right arm quickly extended out, I balled my hand into a fist and it landed against the punching bag.

"_You were kidnapped by Peter and Elizabeth Masen. They're not your real parents."_

I reached out and punched the bag with my left hand. It barely moved. Why didn't the fucker move?

"_We don't understand why the Masens took you."_

Hell, I didn't either. My right fist made contact with the bag again.

"_You are no relation to Peter or Elizabeth Masen whatsoever."_

I continued to relive the memories of that night, and each time one of my fists landed against the bag, barely moving it. It annoyed me. I punched the sucker harder. And harder. Each time my fist landed against the bag, I dragged up another memory and punched away at it. The more I thought about what had happened and the unanswered questions that continued to surround my life, the harder I punched. I wanted to take all of the anger, frustration, confusion, and resentment out of my body and punch it into that damn bag. My hair was matted to my forehead and I was drenched from sweat, but I didn't care. The minutes flew by as I continued to relive my false existence and the lies it created. I punched that damn punching bag until my knuckles bled.

* * *

**A/N:** If you feel so inclined, go ahead and email Edward. eacullen91[at]gmail[dot]com


	26. Round Two

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything related to Twilight. I just like to twist the characters into an emo mess with a sarcastic sense of humor. I do however own a picture of myself with the Naked Cowboy standing in Times Square with his hand planted firmly on my ass...and my hand planted on his firm ass.

I think part of my problem with writing and why it's taken so long to get recent chapters out--aside from getting sick and going on two back to back vacations--was the fact that I didn't have an outline done for anything past Chapter 20. I was starting to freak out a tad. I went and did an outline for the rest of the story. Right now it looks like _Legacy_ will end with 40 chapters. Though, ya know, I get wordy so that could change. After that, I will miss this version of Edward so fucking bad it will hurt my black, shriveled up heart.

As always, big thanks to the magnificent beta extraordinaire, Bridget. OME, I love that FireFox has a spell check in it. I totally butchered extraordinaire and _it let me know_!

I hope you all enjoy this chapter. It seems like a lot of you have been asking or mentioning this for a long time. I didn't want to rush though and I knew I'd get be getting to this point eventually.

**PLEASE READ: **

Once again, I must pimp myself out! I am participating in the September Author's Auction for Support Stacie. _The Commuters_ was my story from the April auction. I am up on the auction block again for a 2,500 word story. No smut, I do well with ExB and from Edward's POV, but then again, if you read _Legacy_, you should already know this.

I am also auctioning off my graphic talents, what ever they are. Not everyone can afford to drop $100 or $2,000 for a story. Yes, I am serious about the $2,000 price tag! The last auction brought in some amazing prices and I was surprised as hell. I mean, I sold for $125! I was thinking about the fact that not everyone can spend money so freely nowadays. Let's face it, the economy sucks ass. My graphic packages are affordable for everyone! This way, you can help out with a good cause and not have to get a second mortgage on your house or sell a body part or two.

Five icons: $5  
Header Graphic: $10  
Wallpaper: $20  
Package (5 icons + header + wallpaper): $30

If you get the package it's like you're getting the icons for FREE! Please check this page out: www[dot]autumn-dreamer[dot]com/supportstacie[dot]htm

This particular auction is open to any fandom, just not Twilight. It is also open for multiple bids. If I actually get a lot of requests I can ask for the thread and the auction to be closed.

The auction is September 11th - 14th.

* * *

**Chapter 26: Round Two**

Physically and mentally exhausted, I slumped against the punching bag. And that's when the fucker decided to move and I nearly landed on the floor. Maybe I should have run into the stupid thing with my entire body instead of punching it with my bare hands. Yeah, that had been a stupid move on my part. My knuckles were bleeding, and I was sure they'd be swollen by the time morning rolled around. All I needed was for my entire body to look like it had been pounded on.

But you know what? I felt better. It felt damn good to get some of that bottled-up anger toward everything out of me. Instead of keeping everything pent up inside, I released it into that poor, stupid, red punching bag. I climbed the stairs, turned off the light, and closed the door to the basement. I stopped in the kitchen for a few minutes and alternated a bag of frozen peas on my hands. When I couldn't take the cold any longer, I made my way back upstairs and to my bedroom. Cracking the door open, I peeked inside and noted that Bella was still sound asleep. Good. She didn't need to see me like this. If I had gotten into bed in my current state, I'd wake Bella up with my body odor alone. I went and took a quick shower to wash off the sweat from my impromptu work out and made sure to clean the blood from my knuckles.

It wasn't going to work. I tore up my damn hands. I'd have to hide the fuckers the entire day, and I knew that wasn't going to be possible.

I slid back into bed, and Bella moved next to me. At first I thought I had woken her up, but she murmured my name in her sleep so I settled in next to her. Soon enough, I drifted off and sleep claimed me.

"Hey you stupid dumbass, what the hell did you do last night?" I felt a pair of hands pushing against my chest. Blinking, I slowly woke up from my sleepy haze. Bella was lying next to me and held one of my hands in hers. "What the hell did you do to yourself after I fell asleep?"

"I got into a fight with a punching bag." There was no sense in lying to her. The truth would come out sooner or later, and lying would just make me out to be a bigger idiot than I really was. Not to mention the fact that Bella would be pissed as hell at me and I didn't want to deal with that.

"You dumbass," she said sternly. "Don't you know you're supposed to wear boxing gloves?"

"Actually, love, that thought only occurred to me _after_ my knuckles were bleeding and inflamed." Bella was now glaring at me, and she looked pissed. I moved toward her and gathered her in my arms, resting my head in the crook of her shoulder. "I'll be fine."

You know what? I really didn't sound too damn convincing.

Bella wrapped her arms around my back and hugged me. "Maybe you should talk to someone about what's going on."

"You want me to see a shrink?" I asked, trying to keep my anger at bay. "Fuck no, I'm not talking to no shrink."

"Maybe they could—"

"No," I interrupted. "I'm not seeing no shrink. I know how I feel about what's going on, so why talk to some quack about it? I know what I feel. They just want you to drone on and on about how you're feeling. No, sorry, I'm not seeing one. And I don't want to be put on some medication that will make me zone out and be a total shell of myself. I'll be fine."

Bella's hand moved up to my face and tilted it toward her. "If you keep saying that you'll be fine enough times, are you going to believe it? Because I'm not quite sure I do."

"I have to." I inched closer to her and placed kisses along the base of her throat. "I have to."

She exhaled and ran her fingers through my hair. Even though she didn't say it, I sensed that Bella was mad at me and I hated it. I had an overwhelming urge of needing her in my life right now. This time I was the one who was sinking, and I was using her as my flotation device. I stopped kissing her and laid my head against the crook of her neck. "Please don't be mad at me," I begged.

"I'm not mad at you," Bella said. "I'm worried about you. They are two very different and distinctive things."

We continued to lay there in my bed for a few minutes until I felt Bella start to move. "You evidently took a shower after your fight with the punching bag, but I need to take one and get ready."

I released her from my grasp and without a single word she turned and left the confines of my arms and my bed. She grabbed her bag and headed to the bathroom, closing the door behind her.

_Great._

Since I had showered only hours before, I went and quickly got dressed before she was through and sat nervously waiting for her on the edge of the bed. As I waited, it felt like there was a knot in my chest. That damn knot kept growing until, finally, Bella opened the door and her eyes landed on me.

"Come here?" I asked.

She closed the bathroom door with her foot and let the bag in her hands fall to the floor. I stared anxiously at her as she approached me. In an unexpected but much appreciated move, Bella placed her legs on either side of mine, effectively straddling me, and rested her hands against my chest.

"Is something wrong?"

"I… um…" I stuttered, trying to get the words out. "Are… um, are…are we okay?"

Bella smiled and placed a kiss on my forehead. "Yes, we're okay."

I wrapped my arms around her and held her closer to me. "I didn't mean to make you mad at me. I'm sorry," I apologized.

"Edward," she pulled back from me. "I know you're going through a lot right now. Just know that I'm here for you if you need me, okay?"

I cupped her face in my hands. "I… you know you're important to me, right?"

She crooked her head to the side, placed her hand against my cheek, and smiled again. "You're important to me too," she said, placing another kiss on my forehead. "Remember that I'm here for you, okay? If you need to talk to someone, I'm here for you. I'm sure Emmett, Carlisle, or any of the others would be willing to listen to you too."

"I know, ma'am."

She gave me the evil eye. "We better head down for breakfast or Emmett will be up to drag us downstairs."

I stole a quick kiss first before I let Bella out of my arms. "Let's go face the day," I said, as cheerfully as I could muster. "Shopping is not my strong point."

"It's not mine either, but it's one of your sister's favorite hobbies." The word "sister" in reference to Alice still sounded foreign to me at times. It was so easy to refer to her as my baby sister when she was the stretcher at school, but at other times, in my head, I still referred to her as my friend.

I had worn a t-shirt with a long-sleeved shirt over top of it. The long-sleeved shirt had been Jasper's, and I found the sleeves to be unusually longer than necessary. The cuffs came almost down to my knuckles, and I hoped that my family would be less attentive to my appearance than Bella had been this morning.

If anyone noticed anything at breakfast, no one said anything. Thankfully, the entire subject of conversation had nothing to do with me. Alice was feeling much better and hadn't had any new episodes of what the hell ever was wrong with her. Carlisle reminded her to take it easy and not to get overly excited. When Carlisle mentioned the overly excited part Emmett snorted and then winced when Jasper kicked him. Alice sneered at Emmett; Carlisle didn't miss a beat and simply said, "Dumb move," Rose jabbed Emmett in the ribs which almost caused him to choke, and Bella and I sat there and laughed our asses off. Poor Esme missed the entire floor show because she was in the kitchen cooking, and Emmett muttered something about if Jasper was sitting where he was supposed to he wouldn't have kicked me. No, he wouldn't have been able to kick Emmett, but he probably would've asked me to get him. Or maybe Carlisle would have done the deed himself.

Ahhh, family. What else can be said?

I went into the kitchen to rinse off my plate and put it in the dishwasher. Emmett ran in ahead of me, pushed his way to the sink, hugged Esme, and went to run upstairs for something. I stood there a little dumbfounded and went back to my task.

After I put my plate and utensils in the dishwasher, I closed the door and loitered in the kitchen, not knowing quite what to do with myself. "Breakfast was real good." I said nervously to Esme.

She finished wiping off the counter and then turned toward me. "I'm glad you enjoyed it," she smiled. "Are you ready for the shopping trip?"

"Not really," I stood there, trying not to fidget so much in her presence. "I'm not quite sure what to get to be honest."

"If you're talking about Christmas presents, don't worry about it so much. I'm sure you'll pick out meaningful gifts. And get anything you need for yourself, too."

I still wondered how I was going to get everything I needed when I didn't have that much money. The stash of cash I took from the Masen house was still upstairs, but it didn't feel right for me to use that toward Christmas presents for my family.

I stepped forward with intentions of leaving the kitchen. "I'll keep that in mind." Esme continued to stand there, and I didn't know what else to say. Why couldn't I talk to her like I could with Carlisle? Having a conversation with Carlisle was always so much easier, smoother, and less complicated. I wondered if I had more in common with Carlisle. Or maybe it was a teenage boy thing. What about the pressure I felt from her from the moment she showed me my room?

In those next few moments I did the one thing I least expected from myself. I closed the short distance between us and hugged her on my own volition. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Esme's expression as I made my actions clear and I knew that she was shocked and surprised at the same time. Her arms encircled me for a moment before she released me, not wanting to push me too fast or too far. I released her and silently left the kitchen and went back to the dining room table.

Carlisle and Bella had witnessed our moment, and they both had smiles on their faces. "I know that made your mother very happy," Carlisle told me. "Thank you so much for trying."

It was a bit of a weird moment and I was glad when Carlisle got up to do something. "He's right, you know," Bella said while looking over her shoulder in Esme's direction. "She's beaming."

I turned slightly and caught the expression on Esme's face. Carlisle and Bella were right—Esme was overjoyed with happiness over the hug I had given her. While I was glad that I had made her happy, I wasn't sure how often I'd be able to claim credit for such a thing.

Before we left for Port Angeles, I went upstairs to get Bella's bag so we could drop her off at home on the way back. On the way downstairs I heard my name being called on the second floor landing by Carlisle from doorway of his study. "Edward, can you come here for a minute?"

I changed direction and headed toward his study. "Wassup?"

He went around to his desk, opened a drawer, and removed an envelope from it. "This is for you. I wanted you to have it today so you can get anything you need," he said, opening the envelope and passing a card to me.

"You're giving me a freaking credit card?" I asked, a tad bewildered.

"Emmett and Alice both have one," he explained. "I thought you should have one too."

"I, oh, um, this is really weird."

He shook his head like every seventeen year old he knew had their own credit card. "Not so much."

"I'm not even going to ask the limit on the sucker. I'm sure I'd never use it that much anyway." I had no idea what the spending limit on Emmett's card was, nor did I care to know.

"Well, I just thought that if you needed anything, you could use the card. We're going shopping today at the mall and I know you don't have a lot of cash."

"Um, yeah, that's true," I confessed. The stash of money that I did have wasn't even mine.

"So, if you need something like that body pillow you've been coveting or an iPod or if you wanted to get Christmas gifts, you can go ahead and get them and not worry."

I tried not to laugh at Carlisle's use of the word "covet." That word seemed like it should be used for something you wanted but shouldn't have. Like Bella's body. I coveted that. I just wanted a body pillow. Two very different levels in my book.

He passed me a pen and instructed me to sign the back of the card. "Oh, okay, thanks, but how am I supposed to pay the sucker?" Where was I going to find the money to pay for a credit card bill? Did someone find a money ass fairy?

"Don't worry about it." I'll be damned if he said those words without blinking, flinching, or laughing.

"Say what?"

"You heard me the first time."

"Okay, thanks again, but I won't be running it up," I said. "I don't have expensive tastes like Emmett and Alice."

"I've noticed that," he said. "I trust you to be responsible with it."

Well, that was awfully big of him. He hardly knew me, but he was handing me a credit card with God knows what limit on it and he trusted me not to run up the thing like, say, Alice. I glanced at the front of the card. "It has… my old name on it… and Cullen," I said with surprise.

"Percy said it'd be the best solution right now while we wait for the courts," he explained.

"Oh, okay, I guess if that's the best thing in a case like this." I stared at the card again before stuffing it into my wallet. I didn't know if there was a precedent for kidnapped kids, mistaken identities, and credit cards. My driver's license still read Edward Masen, but everyone probably in a hundred mile radius freakin' knew who I really was.

Carlisle walked over to me and grabbed my hands. "Edward, what did you do?"

"I got into a fight with the punching bag in the basement," I said nonchalantly.

"Edward."

"That _is_ technically one of my names."

He dragged me out of his study and into the bathroom in the hallway. He examined my hands and applied hydrogen peroxide, which stung like a son of a bitch, on some of the cuts.

"Carlisle, I think I need to speak to Peter and Liz," I said suddenly, slightly afraid of his reaction. "I need answers that only they can give me."

"I'm not sure if that's such a great idea, Edward. Especially now… with you still adjusting and everything." I could tell he was struggling to find the words to express his disapproval.

"But don't you see, that's why I need to see them. If I don't get some answers, I might never move on."

"I'm just not sure if that's such a great idea right now. I'll tell Percy to keep his ears open for any information that might be pertinent to you," Carlisle said. Conflicted, I didn't say anything else because I was a little worried I'd say the wrong thing. I was annoyed at Carlisle's insistence that I not see Peter and Liz, but part of me wondered if he was correct in some way. Then again, I needed answers I'd never get from anyone but them. To say I was torn was an understatement. From Carlisle's expression, I wasn't certain if he thought he was correct or not. "Next time, wear gloves, okay? Keep the cuts clean so you don't get an infection," he said, changing the subject.

"If my fingers start to turn green or anything I'll be sure to let you know," I said.

"I'm serious."

"I know you are," I said. "If my hands start to look funky or something, I'll let you know."

"Good, come on, let's go downstairs." Carlisle patted me on the back, and we walked downstairs together.

The ride to Port Angeles was… eh, well, better than expected! Alice and Jasper went with Carlisle and Esme while Bella and I crawled up into Emmett's Jeep. I could never say that a day that I got to watch Bella climb into the Jeep was a totally horrific day. No, not at all.

The ride was familiar from the time that Emmett took me up to Cullen Mountain as I had dubbed it. Emmett stayed on the 101 for a big portion of the ride until he veered off onto another road, but I didn't know which one it was because Bella was distracting me in the back seat and I totally didn't notice where we were until we parked and crawling out of the Jeep in front of the mall in Silverdale.

"Wait, I thought we were going to Port Angeles?" I asked.

"Alice is feeling better and talked Carlisle and Esme into coming to Silverdale," Emmett said. "You didn't notice that the trip was a lot longer?"

"Um, no, hello, Bella was in the back with me!"

"Horndog!" Bella and Rose said at the same time and started giggling.

"Never denied it," I said with a shrug of my shoulders. "You should know that by now. I'm surprised Carlisle wasn't talked into going to Seattle."

"She probably tried for Seattle," Emmett admitted. "But I'm guessing Dad said no so she settled for Silverdale and got her way in the end. I have to admit, we a lot more options here at the Kitsap Mall."

I could see the sign that advertised the stores in the mall, and there was a larger selection than in Port Angeles. Much larger! Sears, Penneys, Macy's, Barnes and Noble, Kohl's, and oooh, a Dollar Tree.

"You thinkin' what I'm thinkin'?" Bella asked.

I was still partially thinking about what we were doing in the back seat, so that was a definite 'no' on my part. "Um, what?"

"That we need to escape from the others and check out what kind of good, cheap shit they have at the Dollar Tree?"

"Oh, yes!" I shook my head. "You never know what you're going to find in that place."

Emmett and Rose spotted Carlisle's car parked two rows away from us. Rose grabbed Bella's hand and dragged her away from me.

"Dude." We started walking toward the others. "Next time, you're totally traveling with Carlisle. What the hell were you two doing back there half the time?"

"You don't want to know."

"Defiling someone who is like a little sister to me in the back seat of my Jeep…" Emmett muttered. "Aw, shit, or I'd have to put up with Jasper who would actually be defiling my sister. Damn it, Carlisle needs to get a mini-van or Jasper needs to drive next time. I think I'm going to be forever scarred over the noises you two were making."

"I was not defiling Bella!"

"Why don't you say that a little louder so everyone in the mall can hear you, dumbass?" Bella was standing next to my parents, Rose, Jasper, and Alice.

Oh yeah, this was great. "I was defending you, love!"

"Want me to hold him down so you can kick his butt?" Emmett asked. "I'd totally do it for ya, you know."

"Defending… defiling… it's a thin line, ya know," Jasper said. "Are you sure you know which one is which, dumbass?"

"Okay, kids, that's enough." Esme warned us. I guess she was our referee.

"I think you two should have the sex talk with Edward," Emmett said a little too happily, and Alice was laughing like a maniac at what seemed like an inside joke.

"Do it, do it!" Alice had started chanting.

"I don't need the sex talk!" I exclaimed a little too loudly. "I know where babies come from and all that stuff."

There was a couple that had gotten out of their car and had stopped to listen into our conversation. "Thirty-seven!" Bella suddenly yelled out. "Thirty-seven!"

Emmett, Rose, Jasper, Alice, and I busted out in laughter at Bella's sudden outburst, which I knew was meant to change the subject and remove the focus of attention off of me. We knew that she was partially quoting a line from _Clerks,_ and if Carlisle and Esme weren't there, she would have said the entire naughty passage. We all looked at each other and spoke together, "In a row?"

"What on earth is wrong with the kids?" Esme asked.

"I'm really not sure," Carlisle said. "I think it's called being a teenager."

I was laughing so hard that I had tears in my eyes. At least the tears weren't there from being angry or sad. That was quite an improvement in my book. "Can we stop being the parking lot side show now?" I asked.

"Come on, we're upgrading our cell phones and Carlisle has to be there," Emmett informed me. "You're getting a cell phone."

"I don't really need a cell phone," I admitted. "Who do I talk to on the phone? Bella!"

No matter how much I protested that I didn't need a cell phone, I was given one anyway. I'll be damned if I was ever going to remember the number of the sucker. Everyone upgraded to an iPhone, which meant I didn't need to get an iPod because it played music too. Of course, that's what I was told anyway. I saw the price for just one of the iPhones and didn't want to even do the calculations as to how much five of them would end up costing along with the accessories like chargers and headphones. And I now had a phone in my possession which I didn't know how to use and probably wouldn't use all that much anyway. Hello, guilty conscious, thy name is Edward, um, Cullen.

Carlisle and Esme went off on their own after the big cell phone purchase. We were going to meet up with them again for lunch in a few hours at Applebee's. Oh, but first, the girls had to virtually castrate us by dragging us into Bath and Body Works. I couldn't pin point any of the smells that invaded my nostrils that day. They all seemed to blend into one big, gigantic cauldron of girly, flowery scents that made every guy want to run from the store. The girls should have known not to drag their men into stores such as these. Bella told me she was still trying to find a new scent because, evidently, they discontinued her favorite. Alice, being Alice, stocked up quite a bit for Bella before the store stopped carrying it, but Bella was now running low. Well, damn, I actually liked how Bella smelled. Everything else she asked me to take a whiff at stunk to high heaven, was too strong, too flowery, too sugary, or just not Bella.

Even though she didn't end up buying anything, Bella was waiting with Alice and Rose up by the register. "Did Bella happen to mention what scent she liked?" Emmett asked.

"Um, yeah, I think it was Pearberry," I said. "I think. It was a mix of strawberry and pears."

"Search for it on eBay," Jasper said. "Bella will totally love you forever if you can manage to find some of that stuff."

"You probably won't get it in time for Christmas, so save it for Valentine's Day!" Emmett winked.

"You know, sometimes the two of you can put your brains together and come up with a good idea."

"Jazz, did Edward just diss us?" Emmett asked with a slight smile.

Jasper stood next to Emmett with his eyes trained on me. "I do believe that's what your little brother just did."

"What I meant to say was that sometimes the two of you can put your brains together and come up with a really _great_ idea!"

They both rolled their eyes at me. "I'm so going to do the expected big brother thing and kick your ass one of these days," Emmett said.

"Nah, you love me too much," I said with a laugh. That's when Emmett decided to put me in a headlock and Jasper gave me a wedgie that I swear took the next five minutes to pull out of my ass while we were walking through the mall.

The girls were done at the cash register and came over to see why we were causing such a commotion. "Emmett, let go of Eddie!" Alice ordered.

Emmett let me out of the headlock, Jasper let go of the edge of my boxer briefs, and I tried to remove the damn wedgie without putting my hands down my pants. Oh, that was a combination of things I'd never thought I'd say.

"Your mouth is sure going to get you into trouble one day." Bella smirked knowingly at me.

"Probably and most certainly with your father," I said. "I can see him chasing after me with a shot gun. Yeah?"

She took my hand in hers and squeezed it. "Oh, hell yeah. I hope you can run fast."

We then separated into our own little groups to do some of our own shopping. Bella and I stopped in Sears, where I managed to find a body pillow and a pillow case for it.

"You know, I kind of like the idea of having a body pillow and imagining it's you when I can't be there," she said, grabbing a pillow and case for herself.

"Just don't dry hump it!"

That earned me a smack in the arm and Bella telling me that she thought there was a better chance of me dry humping my pillow. Moi? No! Never!

The pillows were too bulky to continue to carry around so I called Emmett—my new phone came in handy—got the keys to the Jeep, and threw our bags inside before heading back into the mall.

I had to admit it—I had no fucking clue what to get the girls for Christmas. I could search online for that girlie body stuff that Bella liked, but what if I couldn't find it? What the hell did I get for Alice, Rose, and Esme? I'd never had to shop for someone else in my entire life. Now was a fine time to have to start!

"Bella, I don't know what to get everyone for Christmas," I admitted sheepishly. "I need your help."

"Mmm, let's see, I bet Emmett and Jasper would love tickets to a Seahawks game," she said thoughtfully.

"What sport is that?" I felt a bit dumb that I had to ask. I was never in one state long enough to feel allegiance to it and to root for a sports team.

"Football, dear." She was trying not to laugh at my ineptitude involving sports.

"How the hell do I buy tickets? Should I get three tickets so all three of us could go? Should Carlisle come with us? Should I get tickets for just the three of them? I don't know what to do!"

"Oh, calm down!" Bella said. "Geez, Edwina, it's not the end of the world. You have that handy dandy cell phone now, call Carlisle and ask him."

While I didn't enjoy Bella calling me Edwina, I thought her idea of calling Carlisle was excellent. Carlisle agreed that the Seahawk tickets were a smart choice, if there were any left to purchase at this time. He was going to check if any were available and call me back. Sure enough, a few minutes later he called to say he bought four tickets for a game in the beginning of January. Even better was the fact that the Seahawks were playing the Tennessee Titans, another team Jasper favored, according to Carlisle. Since the stadium was in Seattle, we'd make a guys weekend out of it, and while we were away, the girls could do whatever girlie shit girls do when they get together. You know, smear that green icky crap on their face, pop popcorn, watch a sappy movie, and talk about us and how bloated they felt and how bad they were PMSing. Of course, I only assumed that's what girls did when they got together. Being a guy, I had never been privy to a girl's night and wasn't going to go all Tootsie to attend one. Oh, _hell_ no.

I wanted to get something for Carlisle and Esme, but what did I get two people with their own money? They could afford to get anything they wanted on their own. And hell, I was paying for gifts with one of _their_ credit cards. The entire situation was confounding and ridiculous to me, but I didn't want to leave them out. I also thought it'd be best to get something other than the football tickets for Carlisle. I was sure he only picked up four tickets because he didn't want the three of us going to Seattle all day by ourselves. I knew Carlisle liked to read, so I thought that getting him a gift certificate from Barnes and Noble would be a wise decision. Since Bella and I both loved to read, we spent a lot of time in Barnes and Noble browsing through their selections. This particular store was huge, and I could've spent all day looking through everything. We wandered into the music section and sampled some CDs on the listening stations.

"Here, listen to this," Bella said, shoving her headphones at me. "I like them."

I glanced at what she was listening to. "Linkin Park? Not exactly what I usually listen to."

"Just listen!" she insisted, so I took the headphones and attempted to listen to the lyrics.

_I'm my own worst enemy  
I've given up  
I'm sick of feeling  
Is there nothing you can say  
Take this all away  
I'm suffocating  
Tell me what the fuck is wrong  
With me  
I don't know what to take  
Thought I was focused but I'm scared  
I'm not prepared  
I hyperventilate  
Looking for help somehow somewhere  
And no one cares  
I'm my own worst enemy_

Oh, fuck! For some reason, the song spoke to me. Bella was surprised to see me buy the CD along with a gift certificate for Carlisle.

Bella dragged me into Kohl's, and I spotted a few things for Esme. They had some really nice picture frames, and I searched until I found a few I thought she'd like. One had a bronze frame, spaces for four pictures, and the word 'family' in the middle in a fancy script. Fittingly enough, I found one with a black frame with the words 'Girls Night Out' etched on the glass. I also eyed a simple but oversized collage-type black frame that I thought would look good in the house. The picture frames gave me an idea. While Bella was busy looking for something, I excused myself and found the department with the baby items. I planned on basically copying the baby book that Liz had created for me—with some minor alterations—and giving it to Esme. There wasn't much of a selection so I had to get the blue one with stripes and dots on the front with a cartoonish butterfly, turtle, and frog. The words "My Little Sunshine" danced across the cover. Needless to say, I thought it looked stupid as hell, so that meant Esme would probably love it. While over in that particular section, my eyes landed on a book that reminded me of Emmett. I reached out, quickly browsing through it before I decided to purchase it also. Emmett wasn't stupid and this book was well below his reading level, but I had to get it—when I saw it I immediately thought of him.

Bella and I toured the Dollar Tree, and I spotted something that reminded me of Charlie. It was more or less a gag gift, but I thought that just maybe Charlie would get a kick out of it. Of course, I had to make one minor alteration to it. Then it'd be perfect!

Now all that was left to shop for was the girls. What on earth should I get the girls? Just as I was thinking about my new predicament Bella brought it to my attention that my phone was ringing. Not used to that noise radiating from one of my pockets, I had been totally ignoring it and assuming it was coming from somewhere else. Turned out it was Emmett, who was with Rose, Jasper, and Alice. They wanted to put their bags in the Jeep but the keys to Emmett's baby were in my pants pocket. The six of us got together and threw our stuff in the Jeep and then met up with Carlisle and Esme at Applebee's to have lunch. Having never been to Applebee's, I had no idea what to get and everything looked and sounded delicious. I informed Bella of my top five selections, she picked something for me, and we ended up sampling each others meals. I was so stuffed from lunch and had no desire to move out of the huge, round booth we were in but I had to.

Though she was feeling a bit tired, Alice was still feeling well. Esme wanted to stay with the girls so she could be close to Alice, but the girls needed to shop for the guys. Emmett said he hadn't gotten anything for Carlisle yet, so poor Carlisle was left to wander around the mall on his own. I don't think he minded his situation actually. It was a good thing I had picked up Carlisle's gift earlier. I could really see him getting a cup of coffee at Barnes and Noble and sitting down to relax with a book to pass the time. I was starting to wonder if I knew more about Carlisle than I had originally thought. Esme, on the other hand, I still felt entirely clueless about.

I asked Emmett and Jasper what we should get the girls for Christmas. Emmett insisted that jewelry was a must-have for them while Jasper didn't quite agree. He insisted that Alice wasn't as interested in jewelry as in the past. We all knew Alice was interested in designing clothes but was very experimental with her style and new to the craft, so he borrowed the Jeep and headed off to a Jo-Ann's Fabric store down the road. Meanwhile, Emmett and I went off in search of the jewelry stores at the mall. Our first stop was Kay Jewelers, but the place freaked us the fuck out. It wasn't quite what we needed—neither of us was asking our girls to marry us! We checked out Ben Bridge but ran the hell out of there when we saw the price of a single piece. Even Emmett wasn't insane enough to get Rose a bracelet that cost almost $14,000!

We ended up in Zales where the prices were more…sane, but I had a new question arise about the girls. Did they like gold or silver? Thankfully Emmett was there to fill in the blanks and help me. Bella wasn't a flashy girl—unless you counted the fact that she flashed her ass—so I thought it was best to get her something that wasn't too flashy. I found a little something for Alice and Rose before a necklace finally caught my eye. It was a clear, crystal heart pendant on a simple silver chain. I hoped she liked it!

By the time we were done with our jewelry selections, Jasper had come back and found us. The three of us were just walking around, chatting and window shopping if you will, when someone stepped in front of me, started asking me questions I wouldn't remember later, and a bright camera flash went off in front of my face.

Emmett grabbed the front of the guy's shirt and dragged him away from me. The stupid camera guy looked scared as hell. "Get him out of here!"

"Robbins?" Jasper asked quickly.

"Meet you there!" Emmett replied while shoving the unnamed asshole farther away from my direction.

We hurried away from them, Jasper leading me to the front of Baskin Robbins next to Barnes and Noble where we stood against a wall between the two stores. There were huge potted plants on our one side, and they partially hid us from anyone who would quickly glace down the corridor searching for us. I mentioned to Jasper where I thought Carlisle would be, so we called him. Sure enough, Carlisle had been inside Barnes and Noble and came out after I told him what happened.

"I hope Emmett didn't do anything stupid," Carlisle muttered under his breath while calling Esme. "I really don't want to have to bail him out of jail."

"How'd you know where to bring me?" I curiously asked Jasper.

"Before we all had cell phones, this was always the place we'd meet up if we got separated," Jasper explained. "We always shortened it to Robbins for some reason. You okay, Edward?"

I shook my head. "Yeah, I guess so, just a little weirded out I guess. Thanks for getting me out of there."

"No problem, man."

Carlisle turned back to us after he got in contact with Esme. "Okay, we're going to go. The girls are heading back to the car and will wait for us there." He then tried to call Emmett, but he didn't pick up.

"Oh, great, if he got into trouble it's all my fault," I said. "Stupid reporter."

"It's not your fault," Carlisle said. "That stupid reporter shouldn't have gotten so close. Come on, let's head to the car and I'll keep on trying to get in touch with Emmett."

When Jasper had come back from his side shopping excursion, he had managed to find a parking space only a little further away than where Emmett originally parked. We were all huddled outside of Carlisle's car trying to get in contact with Emmett when Bella spotted him running through the parking lot. We had to give him a minute to catch his breath before he could explain to us what had happened. In the meantime, I was happy to see that he didn't appear to have any scratches, bruises, or blood on him. I wondered what the other guy looked like, though.

"Sorry to make you worry. There was another scumbag that was watching the one that got into Edward's face," he explained. "I knew he was following me so had to dodge him and couldn't take the time to answer my phone."

"You didn't do anything stupid, did you, Emmett?" Esme asked with concern.

Emmett stifled a laugh. "No, Mom, though they deserved it, I left him in one piece."

"And Oprah wonders why I turned down her invitation," Carlisle said while his eyes darted back and forth between us.

"Oprah?" I asked. "Like in the television show? She wanted us?"

Carlisle shrugged. "She wanted you, but I said no."

"Thank you," I said. "Wise decision on your part." I had enough attention with the local reporters; I didn't need the entire country watching me. Although with the Internet, maybe they already were. That creeped me out a tad bit. "I'm sorry about this. Did everyone at least finish their shopping?"

"I've got everything I needed!" Alice chimed happily. "I'm ready to go!"

My ears were greeted with a chorus of 'yups', 'yes's', 'it's okay's' and 'let's get going's' before piling back into the Jeep and heading back to Forks. The ride back home was not as fun as the ride to the mall. I mostly sat there looking out the window with Bella's hand in mine. She'd squeeze it every once in a while to see if I'd respond to her. I would silently squeeze her hand but not do anything else to acknowledge her. Emmett and Rose had quiet, intermittent conversations and basically pretended we weren't there. Once Bella realized that I wasn't going to talk any time soon, she leaned up against me and settled in for the long ride home. I was probably pissing Bella off by not talking to her, but I didn't know what to say. I was annoyed over yet another incident with a reporter. Emmett and Jasper shouldn't have to be my bodyguards. Of course, having the reporter get in my face only brought up why he was getting in my face—my kidnapping. My annoyance at the reporter turned into being mad at Carlisle.

I was seriously starting to feel very fucked up.

When we reached Bella's house, I helped her out of the Jeep. Bella said good-bye to Emmett and Rose and started to walk toward the porch. I reached up and grabbed Bella's overnight bag and another bag from the mall. "Can you give us a minute?" I asked Emmett.

"I think I can spare five, bro," he said with a smile. "Don't be an ass."

Rose smacked his arm. "We'll be waiting for you," she said before giving Emmett a death glare.

Bella had reached the porch and was reaching into her pocket for her keys. "I really hope you got everything you needed before we had to leave," I said.

"Oh, you do speak." She unlocked the door and opened it. Stepping inside, she dropped her bags in the hallway. I stepped inside but left the door open behind me.

"Some people say I speak too much," I said, placing the bags in my hands next to the others. "And other times I don't know what to say or how to express how I'm feeling."

Bella continued to stand there, one hand on her hip, staring into the kitchen. She was silent and now that I wanted to talk to her, I didn't know what to say. I did the only thing I could think of—I walked over to her, gathered her in my arms, and hugged her. I felt her arms slowly curl around me and hoped that we'd be okay.

"Fuckin' non-communicative males," she mumbled against my neck.

"If we talked about how we felt all the time, well, we'd be girls," I said, and she raised her head to look at me. "I can only continue to ask for your patience with me."

"I'm trying, Edward, I really am."

I hugged her once again and then heard the horn to the Jeep blare in quick succession. "Geez, Emmett is impatient. I better go before he leaves me and I have to walk home. I'll call you later on, okay?"

Bella nodded. "Okay, you better."

When I stepped outside I saw the reason behind Emmett's little noisy tirade—Charlie had come home and was walking toward the house. "Hello, Chief Swan," I said as he approached.

"Hey, kid," he said quickly before totally ignoring me and continuing to the house. Yeah, that went well.

I kind of felt like I was in a numb fog for the rest of the afternoon and night. I took my bags up to my room, went through them, and put all the credit card receipts on my night stand. I wasn't sure if Carlisle would want them or not. Before I forgot, I wrote down 'Pearberry' down in my notebook so I'd remember Bella's favorite scent. Not knowing quite what to do with myself, I went ahead and got my laptop and searched for the stuff. While Bath and Body Works didn't keep the products stocked in the store, they did have them online! It took me a bit to figure it out, but I made my first online purchase on the site for Bella.

Dinner passed by in a haze. I didnt' know if anyone registered my moody disposition or not. I helped Esme in the kitchen with dinner and tried to participate in the conversation at the table, but I really wasn't interested. Everything that had happened today was getting on my nerves. Bella was annoyed with me because I couldn't open up and talk to her. I was aggravated because Carlisle wouldn't let me find answers that I really needed. Meanwhile, I remembered that Carlisle had asked me to go to the police station for an interrogation on Monday. How was it fair that they got answers but I couldn't seek any for myself? And then there was the stupid reporters or whoever they were at the mall that got in my face. Our remaining time at the mall was ruined because of them.

I had homework to do, but I wasn't in the mood to do it. Hell, I had more than an entire week to do it anyway since we were now officially on Christmas break. I asked Emmett and Jasper how to load music onto my iPhone, and the process wasn't as complicated as I thought. I transferred the CD that I had bought onto it so I could listen to it later, although, I wasn't sure if I could fall asleep to a screaming singer with hard rock and rap music backing him up. I'd certainly try though.

I wasn't in the mood to socialize with everyone that night. I made my promised call to Bella, and we talked for a few minutes before I borrowed a movie from Emmett. I removed my button-up shirt and lay down on my bed to watch the movie, cuddled up with my new body pillow and pretending it was Bella. Later, I woke up, saw that the screen on the TV was a steady blue, and realized I had fallen asleep. I tried to go back to bed, but it didn't work. My mind started wandering, and it made me angry and annoyed all over again. I opened up the plastic package the headphones to my iPhone were in, plugged them in, and found the music player on the phone like Emmett had shown me earlier. Searching through the limited selections, I decided on the Linkin Park CD I had bought earlier. What the hell.

Later that night, I found myself back down in the basement. I didn't even remember getting out of bed and traveling down the stairs. I was just there. I stood there in the entrance at the bottom of the stairs. Staring at the red punching bag, I continued to think about the things that I had begun to question. I wanted answers. I needed answers. Otherwise, I was never going to feel whole. And Carlisle had denied my request.

Before I knew it, I had started round two against the bag and my emotions. My hands started to sting, so I stopped and examined them. Some of the cuts had opened up and started to bleed again. I was starting to feel sweaty so I took off my t-shirt, put the headphones in my ears, started the music, and tugged a pair of boxing gloves up onto my hands. They probably weren't on correctly, but they would protect my hands from more damage. I listened to the music, and my jabs at the bag started to land in rhythm with the music.

_Thought I was focused but I'm scared  
I'm not prepared  
I hyperventilate  
Looking for help somehow somewhere  
And no one cares  
I'm my own worst enemy_

I was drenched in sweat and breathing heavy, but I didn't care. When I paused to catch my breath, a movement by the door caught my eye and I knocked the headphones off my ears with my still gloved hands.

"You told me to wear gloves the next time, so I am," I said matter-of-factly. "What's wrong?"

Carlisle walked toward me and stopped on the other side of the red bag. "I didn't think you'd be back down here so soon." He reached out for the gloves on my hands and tugged them down more on my hands. "You're not done yet?"

"No, I don't think I am by a long shot," I replied.

"Okay, go ahead," he said with a nod of his head and grabbed the other side of the bag. "If this makes you feel better, let's continue."

I started punching the bag again, imagining the music in my head, punching once again to the rhythm of it. Tears were now falling freely down my cheeks.

"What's bothering you, Edward? What are you so worked up about this time?" Carlisle asked as my gloved fist landed against the bag.

"Why, Carlisle, why?"

"I don't understand," he said as I kicked the bag with my foot and caught him off guard. He braced himself harder. "Explain."

"Why did they have to take me?" A kick was followed by a punch. "Why did they have to love me like their own? If they treated me like crap and I hated them it would make this all so much easier!"

My foot landed against the bag one more time before I stopped and stepped back. My breathing was ragged and uneven while I stared up at the ceiling. "I feel so _fucked up_ right now." Still crying, I dropped my head to see Carlisle's gaze fixed on me and I apologized for swearing in front of him.

Letting go of the bag, he came over and embraced me in his arms. "I'm sorry. I thought I had made the best decision, but I was wrong. I was being selfish." I heard him sigh against my sweaty hair. "I'll take you to see them."

Standing there in the middle of the basement with Carlisle's arms around me, we were nearly silent. The sound of my heavy breathing penetrated the room. He had finally granted me permission to seek out what I wanted. What I hoped would make me feel whole again.

Answers.

Over time my breathing slowed down to a normal pace, and I backed away from Carlisle. What a sweaty, tear stained mess I was. Carlisle helped me remove the gloves and scowled when he saw that my cuts had started to bleed. He glared at me and something inside of me went off and the tears started to fall again. I reached out for him this time and wrapped my arms around his waist. At a loss for words for the first time in my life, I tried to think of what to say to Carlisle for finally granting my wish. It was the simplest of phrases and the first thing that came to my mind.

"Thank you."

* * *

**A/N:** Did ya like it? Huh? Wha? I can't hear you! Please let me know! Reviews keep me sane...ish. I love them. I read them over and over like an obsessive vampire stalker.

Oh, and apparently, Port Angeles doesn't have a mall like I had originally thought (that I could find info on at least). Thus, the move to Silverdale. I guess they're bigger than Forks, but PA is still mostly a tourist trap. But they do have Edward's favorite store, Wal-Mart. Trying to find out accurate information on the Internet about two towns you've never been to can be hard at times.


	27. Striving for Normalcy

**DISCLAIMER:** I don't own anything except a buggy Samsung Impression. Yo, AT&T and Samsung... get your act together and release a software update!

**BIG THANKS** to Karin for helping me figure out how to upload this chapter since is being a major pain in the ass.

Remember, you can follow me on Twitter or check in on the Legacy thread on Twilighted. Check out my profile page here for info on those.

Remember, (deja vu much?) I'm taking part in the _Support Stacie Author Auction_. It takes place from September 11 to 14th, 2009. I'm offering graphics and prices start at just $5!

Thanks for all the continued reviews and support. I love them all. I read them multiple times too! As long as you type something more than a smilie face, I'm usually good. Just tell me something you liked about the chapter! I keep on getting notices for new alerts all the time. All you new readers *whistles* feel free to drop me a line instead of just favoring me. I don't bite... unless you want me to. This chapter ended up different from how I envisioned it, but that's okay, I still like it. I get wordy like Edward. So maybe my original thought of 50 chapters won't be far off the mark.

* * *

**Chapter 27: Striving for Normalcy**

"Well now, isn't this cute?" The deep voice had interrupted my sleep and wasn't distant enough for my liking. "I'm glad they're not spooning or nothing."

"That'd be kind of creepy, man. Why weren't we invited to the sleepover?" another deep voice asked with a twinkle of laughter.

I tried rolling over onto my stomach toward the wall, but I was blocked by a large mass on my left side. My eyes slowly fluttered open, and I found my face buried in a sea of dark blue. Confused because my comforter was brown, I rolled onto my back and my eyes opened in the direction of the voices.

"Mornin', Sunshine!" Emmett sang happily with Jasper smiling at his side.

"Shut up, doofus!" I groaned and rolled back over. And that's when I saw why the two of them had been laughing. I was so taken aback with surprise that I jumped and fell off my bed.

"What the hell is Dad doing in your bed?" Emmett asked.

I crawled up off the floor, sat on the edge of the bed, and rubbed the sleep from my eyes. "You wouldn't understand."

"Adjusting type shit?" Jasper asked. "Because I never took Carlisle for the twisted pedo type."

"I heard that!" Carlisle sat up with a yawn and stretched. "I fell asleep here."

"We were up late talking and shit," I explained, yawning and running my hands through my already unruly hair. "I don't even remember falling asleep."

Emmett had an odder than usual expression on his face. "What the hell is up with your hands?" After Emmett's comment Jasper took notice of my hands too. Carlisle must have given them a certain look because their expressions changed, and they mumbled some quick goodbyes before hauling their asses out of my room.

"How are your hands?" he asked. "Are they feeling okay?"

I held them out in front of me and flexed my fingers. "Yup, everything seems to be workin' a-okay." Carlisle shifted on the bed and moved to sit next to me, so I held my hands out so he could see for himself. "No pus or gangrenous digits."

"Good," he yawned and scratched at his scalp. I turned to say something to him and started laughing at his appearance. "What?"

"We're total twins in a hair sense," I replied. "If you don't fix it, is it always like that?"

"Yeah, it always looks like yours, and unfortunately, I can't let it go at the hospital," he explained. "It's not professional." I could have sworn that he rolled his eyes.

"So, um..."

"I'm going to take a shower, have breakfast, and call Percy for you," he said. "See what we can get worked out and how soon."

"I thought you would change your mind." I stared at the floor, twiddling my fingers nervously, and then I felt one of Carlisle's hands gently rubbing my back.

"Edward, when I tell my family that I'm going to do something, I will do everything in my power to follow through with my promise," he said, a slight smile on his lips. "In case you forgot, you definitely fall into that category."

I leaned against Carlisle, his arms wrapped around me, and his chin rested on the top of my head. "Thanks, Dad." The words slipped from my mouth before I could stop them. He squeezed my arm where his fingers rested, but he didn't make a big fuss or get all emotional at my unintentional words. If similar words had slipped from my mouth to Esme, I could imagine her up on the top of the house, shouting it from the rooftop.

Hearing movement from the door, I glanced up and spotted Alice in the entrance. "If this ain't a Kodak moment, I don't know what is!" She whipped her camera out of her back pocket, looked at the screen thingie ma jiggie bobber on the back of it, and the flash went off.

Carlisle let me go, and Alice ran cheerfully out of my room. "Too bad that's not film and we can't destroy the negative," I said thoughtfully.

"Why?" Carlisle's eyebrows were furrowed with worry.

"Look at us!" I exclaimed, pointing to my hair. "We just woke up and rolled out of bed. We look horrible!"

"That's all? You sound like a girl! Should I call you Edwina from now on?" He started laughing and then changed the pitch of his voice in an effort to imitate a female. "Ooh, my hair! Don't take a picture! I'm not ready!"

"Edwina?" I said, remembering how Bella had called me the same name just yesterday. "Have you been talking to my girlfriend?"

"No, no!" he laughed, wiping a stray tear from his eye. "Simple play on your name, that's all. Okay, I'd better get myself moving. I'll let you know what Percy finds out, okay?"

"Okay, thanks, Carlisle."

"Get dressed, fix your hair Edwina, and come down for breakfast," he instructed, rising from the bed. "I don't know what your mother is cooking, but it smells delicious."

He crossed the room and left, closing the door behind him. Last night after Carlisle had granted me permission to visit Peter and Liz, it felt like a huge weight had been lifted from my chest. I didn't know what was going to transpire during our meetings, but I had hoped that I'd find out anything that would end up making me feel better.

To be honest, I didn't know what I was looking for. I just wanted _something_ to help me heal and move on with my life. I grabbed the notebook and pen on my nightstand and opened it up. Placing a check mark next to 'Pearberry', underneath it I wrote two more words.

Answers and healing.

Last night Carlisle had held me in a tight embrace downstairs until I had stopped crying. Looking back at the incident, I remembered that I didn't feel out of place with him. And then this morning I slipped and called him 'Dad'. My fucking feelings were all over the map and confused. Or maybe he had really started to feel like a father figure to me.

He had walked with me back upstairs to my room and waited while I took another late night punching-bag-induced shower. When I stepped out of the bathroom, changed and refreshed, Carlisle was waiting for me, sitting on my bed like I did all the time with his back against the wall. I didn't remember falling asleep. The last thing I could recall was sitting next to Carlisle, one of his arms around my shoulders, leaning against him and the two of us silent. At that point, my emotions were still running ragged and I was afraid to speak. I didn't want to break down in front of him again. I was so damn fucking tired of crying. It made me feel weak and spineless.

I hauled ass into the bathroom, brushed my teeth, washed my face, changed, and headed downstairs. Entering the kitchen, I grabbed a glass and poured myself a glass of milk from the fridge. "Morning, Esme," I said, taking a sip of my newly acquired beverage.

She turned and started to speak, but stopped mid-sentence, her eyes fixed on my raised hand. "Are you okay?"

"Yes, I'll be fine," I could tell she wasn't convinced by my declaration. "Just a little incident with a mean punching bag and they've been treated." With my free hand I reached out for hers and took it in mine. "See? S'okay. I'll use gloves from now on."

She turned away from me and back to the stove, but I knew she wasn't entirely convinced. I walked up behind her and placed my arm across her shoulders. It wasn't a hug, but it was still direct contact with her. "What's for breakfast this morning, Esme?"

"Pancakes and the fixings. You like pancakes, right?"

"I don't think I've come across anything you've made that I don't like," I admitted. "I'm not too picky. Although, did I ever tell you that I think I'm allergic to mushrooms?" She shook her head. "Twice I've had something with mushrooms and I broke out in hives or something. Not sure if it's a coincidence or not, but I stay away from the little suckers like they're the plague."

"You know what? The same thing has happened to Emmett, so I'll be sure to remember that," she said. "Can you gather the utensils and napkins and put them on the table for me?"

"Sure, no problem."

I went to the drawer that held the utensils, grabbed enough for seven, the napkin holder, got the tub of butter from the fridge, and placed them on the table. Everyone else trickled in while I was putting the utensils at each seat. Without being asked, I headed back into the kitchen, removed seven plates from the cupboard, and put them on table before sitting down.

Esme came over to the table with a plate of pancakes, bacon, and eggs and put them down on the table. Placing her hand on Carlisle's shoulder, she leaned down, lightly kissed him on the forehead, and asked him how he had slept. Evidently, she had realized sometime during the night that he wasn't in bed with her. His eyes wandered over to me.

"Dad and Edward had a sleepover, but they didn't do it the fun way with makeshift sheet tents like we used to," Emmett proclaimed.

"You were six, Emmett," Carlisle said with a chuckle. "Shut up and eat, son."

"Don't have to tell me twice," Emmett muttered while stabbing at a pile of pancakes.

"Hey, Eddie," Alice slid down on her chair to reach out and tap me in the leg before sitting up. "We're going over to Bella's today to go sleigh riding. You're coming, right?"

"If she'll have me." I shoved a slice of bacon into my mouth to shut myself up.

"You just need to stop being a ja—idiot," Rose stopped herself from calling me a jackass in front of Carlisle and Esme just in time. "Idiot. Just stop being an idiot and you'll do fine." I saw Carlisle smirk at Rose's comment.

"I don't know if that's possible, Rosie," Emmett said between bites of food. "You're asking a lot from him." Emmett jumped and reached for his leg under the table. "Ow, Dad?!"

Evidently Carlisle had kicked Emmett from under the table. On the way to sit down to eat, Esme stopped behind Emmett and patted him on the shoulder. "Shut up and eat, son."

"What is this? Pick on Emmett day?" he whined.

A resounding chorus went up. "Yes!"

Breakfast time held the usual type of chit chat that it always did. Carlisle and Esme asked how long we expected to be out, where we were going, and told us to call if our plans changed.

On the drive over to Bella's, my phone chirped from my back pocket. "You have a text message," Emmett explained.

_Called Percy, he is looking into things. Will keep you updated if I hear anything else._

Alice, Jasper, and I had shoved ourselves into the back of the Jeep while Rose sat in the front. Not knowing how to respond to a text message, Alice, who was sitting in the middle, showed me how to send a message back to Carlisle. Nifty.

When Emmett pulled into Bella's driveway, my stomach suddenly felt like it was tied up in a huge, gigantic knot. And I wanted to puke, like, really, really bad. I mean, like, buh-bye breakfast.

"I need a minute with Edward," Emmett said. "Go ahead; we'll be there in a minute."

Alice, Jasper, and Rose started to slowly wander over to Bella's porch. I think they wanted to be close enough to over hear our conversation, but they weren't being very stealthy about it. "What's up, bro?"

"What the hell are you doing to yourself?" He nodded down at my hands. "Are you doing something really stupid like self abuse or cutting or some shit?"

I held up my hands in front of him. "Self abuse? The only type of self abuse I suffer from is whacking off."

He took my hand and scrutinized it. "What the hell did you do?"

I pulled my hand away from his grasp. "Mr. Red Punching Bag downstairs in the basement," I said. "We got into it the last two nights."

"You should have told me. We could have had another plate party or something."

While I contemplated the idea of breaking more dishes, and it probably would have helped to some degree, I needed the physical part of boxing to let off some steam. "We can do that soon." I shrugged, and Emmett stared at me. "What?"

"You know that I'm here for me if you need me, right?"

I started off toward the house and heard Emmett following behind me. "I know, Emmett."

Bella greeted us at the door, half ready to go out into the freezing cold Washington weather. Waiting on the porch, I watched my breath turn into a smoky fog as soon as it exited my nostrils. I informed Alice that she had made a great decision on the coat she had ordered with all my clothes, and that seemed to make her happy. While my face was cold from being exposed, the rest of me was doing pretty damn well. Bella appeared in the doorway and I smiled at her, but she just glanced in my direction quickly before turning to Emmett, whom she was much closer to. He leaned down and she whispered something to him before he turned to Rose and said something to her. What the hell was up with all the secrecy?

But that's how I ended up on the fucking sled with Rose and not my own girlfriend. Rose had grabbed my hand and dragged me into the garage where we got a sled and headed off to the hill before the others. Bella was mad at me, I knew it, and I didn't like it one bit. Why couldn't I open up and talk to her? Was she going to ignore me the entire damn day? While the others were heading toward us, Rose and I settled into the sled and I pushed off the hill, sending us sailing down it at break neck speed.

It wasn't the same as before. It wasn't Bella that was sitting in front of me, not-so innocently grinding herself against my crotch and turning me on. It was Rose, my brother's girlfriend, who, while gorgeous enough in her own right, wasn't the person I wanted sitting in front of me.

When we stopped at the bottom of the hill, we climbed out of the sled, and I picked it up with intentions of climbing back up the hill for another run. Rose had another idea instead. She and I wandered into the tree line of the woods and talked. "Okay, knucklehead, you're evidently screwing up something fierce." Rose said with a look of determination. "What's going on with you and Bella?"

"I feel like we're skating on thin ice," I confessed. "I think she's basically mad at me because I won't open up to her."

The wind kicked up and sent Rose's hair flying everywhere so I stepped in front of her to lessen the impact. "Have you opened up to anyone at all?"

"I've talked to Carlisle a little bit, but that's really it. Emmett and Alice haven't bugged me," I replied. "And Esme, well, we're on shaky ground anyway."

"Bella is a fixer. She wants to help you, and it's annoying the hell out of her that she can't do anything for you."

"Are you sure?" Rose would know. After all, she had known Bella for a hell of a lot longer than I had.

"I'm the one on a sled with you instead of your girlfriend," she said with a chuckle. "I could be flying down that hill with _my_ boyfriend's arms wrapped around me. But _noooo_, I'm in a sled with your skinny little ass."

"Bella wants to fix me. I'm not a fucking lamp that fell off of a shelf and can be glued back together before someone comes home and notices," I said. "I'm a damn human. I don't know how to put myself back together."

"Nice analogy, Humpty Dumpty."

"Thanks, Blondie." Rose reached out and kicked me with the toe of her boot. "So what the fuck do I do before I totally ruin this thing I've got going with Bella?"

"I haven't the slightest clue."

"Great, some help you are!"

The wind picked up again, and Rose crossed her arms in front of her before continuing. "Look, if you don't want to talk, you don't want to talk. There's nothing that's going to change your mind until you're ready to open up. Bella needs to understand that. I'll try to talk to her and make her understand, but I'm not giving you any guarantees."

"I appreciate your help." I ran my hand through my hair nervously. "I can barely comprehend how I'm feeling, so how am I supposed to explain it to someone else?"

"Point taken."

We could hear Jasper's hoots and hollers in the distance. "We've wandered farther than I thought. Let's head back. They're having all the fun while we're walking around having a mini-wanna be therapy session."

While climbing back up the hill, Emmett ran up through the deep, packed snow to catch up with us. "Your turn, babe." With his head he motioned down toward Bella, who was farther down the hill.

Rose stopped and yelled back to Bella, "I already climbed this hill, bitch! I'm not doing it twice! I'm waiting until your ass is right here!" Emmett turned around, laughed at the girls, and continued to climb up with me.

"Did Bella bitch and complain to you about me?" I asked.

"Uh, well…yeah, she did."

"Jesus Christ," I swore. "Why can't she have some patience with me?

Emmett shrugged as he pulled himself up to the top of the hill. "She wants to glue you back together and make you whole again, man."

"Funny, Rose called me Humpty Dumpty." My hand started to slip from the rope and I almost ended up tumbling back down the hill, but Emmett caught the edge of my jacket before I took the express route back down to the bottom. "You're always saving me from shit. You're going to get sick of doing that one of these days."

"Whatever." He started walking toward a fallen tree. Wiping the snow from it, he sat down and motioned for me to do the same. "Love ya man, but I'm not cuddling with you in a sled and flying down that hill. We'll sit this one out. What did you and Rose talk about?"

"About Bella," I confessed. "But Bella probably assumes I was talking to Rose about things I won't talk to her about. Tell me again, why the hell do we want girlfriends, Emmett?"

"The sex?"

"We ain't gettin' any."

"Then I'll be damned if I know."

"Great."

Jasper started walking over to us and joined us on the fallen tree. All three of the girls huddled into one sled and started down the hill. "You know, if they wanted to have a fuckin' chat session they should've fuckin' told us. I'm not wrappin' my arms around either one of you numb nuts and it's too fuckin' cold to just sit around on our asses out here."

"That is most I've ever heard you swear," I said, surprised by Jasper's language. "Your foul mouth is dating my little sister?"

"Oh, shut it, dumbass. I've heard your foul mouth and you're dating one of my best friends."

I didn't know what was wrong, but I knew Jasper well enough that something was bothering him. It wasn't like him to get so defensive. "What's wrong, Jazz?" Sure, he swore like the rest of us but never as much as me or Emmett.

"Sorry, parent stuff," he apologized, kicking at the snow randomly with his boot. "They called last night and started in on shit again."

"Sorry, man," Emmett said. "I'm just glad my parents are letting you stay with us."

"Oh, yeah, me too." Jasper stood up and swiped a hand at his ass to remove any remaining snow. "Carlisle and Esme are, like, awesome man. I don't know what we'd be doing without them. So, uh, Eddie, why is Bella pissed at you?"

My ass was getting numb from the cold, so I stood up and Emmett followed my actions. "That evident, huh? I won't talk to her about my feelings and shit."

"Why do girls always want us to talk about shit?" Jasper asked. "Why can't they just let us sort out our feelings on our own?"

"Because they're girls," Emmett explained. "It's like engrained in their damn DNA that they must talk things out, express their feelings, and then everything will be a-okay."

Jasper nodded, his loose blond curls bouncing slightly with the wind, and laughed. "So it must be engrained in our DNA to huddle together and bitch about the females in our lives."

"Yup." Emmett and I answered at the same time.

"You know what the kicker is?" Both of them shook their heads at me. "We end up talking, but not to them, which is what they want."

Emmett rolled his eyes. "Women."

This time Jasper and I answered at the same time. "Yup."

We stood huddled together for a few minutes, jumping up and down and rubbing our hands together to keep warm, and bitched about women in general. Why did they have to be such a pain in the ass? I mean, seriously? Why?

After what felt like eons, we finally saw the girls' heads peek over the hill, and they helped each other off the hill and onto flatter land. They made their way over to us, slowly, and what seemed methodically. Rose wandered over first, took one of Emmett's hands in hers, and dragged him away. Alice walked up next, flashed me a shy smile, and walked away toward Emmett and Rose.

"I think I'm supposed to follow," Jasper whispered as I saw Bella approach us. "Good luck, man." Nodding to Bella, he walked off silently toward the others.

"Hey." I cleared my throat, but I was unable to say anything else.

"Hey…" she paused uncomfortably, her gaze stuck on the ground. "I'm sorry that I'm being such a bitch. I just don't know what to do for you and I feel useless."

I slowly walked over to Bella and took her in my arms, her head tucked under my chin. "You're not being a bitch." Her arms wrapped around my back, I buried my nose in her hair and inhaled the heavenly scent. "I haven't talked much to anyone. I still need you. I can't explain it, but you make me feel sane when everything is so up in the air."

"So, you still want me around?"

"Always, love." My pocket rang, and I remembered that Carlisle might be trying to get in touch with me. "I have to check that," I explained, releasing one arm from Bella but keeping the other firmly around her. When I looked at the display, Carlisle's cell phone number, which Emmett had programmed in my phone yesterday when they were purchased, showed up. "Hi, Carlisle."

"Hello, Edward," Carlisle paused and nervously cleared his throat. "Percy called me back. Under normal circumstances you wouldn't have a chance to see the Masens."

"Oh, why?"

"The Masens were moved to Clallam County Jail in Port Angeles. Usually, you'd have to be on their pre-approved list of visitors. Percy pulled some strings somehow," Carlisle explained. "I'm not sure what he did or how he did it, but there is a stipulation that we have to abide to."

"What is it?" The wind kicked up again, and I squeezed Bella tighter. She looked up at me before pressing her face against my jacket-clad chest.

"A visitor can only see one prisoner a day, so you have to choose," Carlisle said. "Do you want to visit with Peter or Liz?"

I had a hard choice to make. I could only see one of them. Thinking back, I remembered how confused Liz had been the night they had been arrested. Carlisle had mentioned that Liz had been sedated at one point. Even though I would've liked to see Liz again, I didn't think she was the one who could help me. If her mental state was still up in the air, then seeing me could put a hamper on any progress she had made. No matter what had happened, I didn't want to be responsible for doing that. Peter was the obvious choice to get answers from. At least, I hoped so.

"I need to see Peter," I told Carlisle over the phone. Bella glanced up at me, a look of concern etched across her face.

"Are you sure you want to do this tomorrow, though? Remember, we planned for you to go and give a statement to the Forks police. It'll be an emotional day, son. Are you sure you can you handle it?"

"Not totally sure." I deadpanned. "Visit the basement at two in the morning and we'll see how I'm dealing."

Disconnecting the call with Carlisle, I shoved the phone back in my pocket. Tomorrow was going to be a tough day to get through. I needed to confront the man who had kidnapped me and then pretended to be my father for the first seventeen years of my life. "Bella, I have a feeling I'm going to need you tomorrow night. Do you think you can sleep over?" Her brow was furrowed in worry, and I tried to ease some of her fears. "Tomorrow afternoon I'm going to visit Peter Masen and try to get some answers about my life."

Blinking rapidly, Bella shivered and buried her face in my jacket. I wasn't sure if it was from the cold or if my words had chilled her. Raising her face back to my view, she spoke, her voice low. "Even if you don't want to talk, I'll be there for you tomorrow night. I'll lay with you all night long and hold you in my arms if that's what you need."

Once again at a loss for words, I repeated the same words I had said to Carlisle early this morning down in the basement. "Thank you."

"I don't know about you, but it's a little bit too cold to be doing this shit today."

"I agree one hundred percent! Let's grab the others and get our asses inside," I said as I placed a kiss on her forehead.

The rest of the morning was spent inside of the much-warmer Swan residence. Charlie scowled at me when he left to go visit his friend Billy. I didn't expect any different from the man. Really, I didn't.

Bella made a simple lunch for us—grilled cheese and chicken soup—and we all huddled around the coffee table in the living room eating.

"Does Chinook have one of those photo machines?"

"Whatta mean?" Alice asked, taking a bite of her sandwich. "You want to get copies from a picture or get new ones?"

"Both."

"You can do that at Chinook. Why?"

I wanted to try to get some pictures printed out that Alice had taken for part of Esme's Christmas present. I also needed to make copies of the baby pictures I had so I could put them in the baby book I was making for her. "I have a little project I need to work on before Christmas."

"Alice is your woman; she knows how to work that machine like no one else." Bella said. "Why don't you two go and do that? Have some sibling bonding time between the two of you."

"What do you say, Midg? Wanna give me a hand?"

"Sure, Eddie!"

As I turned to ask Emmett to borrow the keys to his Jeep, I was hit in the forehead by the aforementioned objects. "Ow, doofus! What the hell?"

"Sorry, man," he said with a laugh. Rose smacked him in the back of the head. "I didn't mean that. Bad aim, my bad."

We finished eating and then Alice and I headed outside to the Jeep. "Do you have your camera on you?"

"No," Alice shook her head, and I helped her up into Emmett's monstrous vehicle. "Do you need some pictures that I've taken?"

"Probably. I have to go back home and get some things that I want to copy anyhow. You can get your camera while we're there."

"Sounds like a plan, man!"

When we reached the house, we each ran to our respective rooms, saying a quick hello to Carlisle and Esme, who were on the couch watching a movie. They seemed to be a bit flustered by our impromptu visit.

"They were totally making out, ya know," Alice said as we reached the third floor landing and were safely out of their ear shot. "Mom's top was buttoned wrong."

"You noticed that?" I asked with a mixture of surprise and…revulsion. I did not want to think of my parents in that way.

She stopped in front of her doorway. "If it's something to do with clothes, I notice it. Go get your stuff."

I hurried to my room and to my closet to where the Rubbermaid container still held some of my belongings. Opening it up, I sifted through it until I reached my baby book and the photo albums. Emptying my backpack of my school items, I threw the books in it for easier transport and met Alice in the hallway.

"Ready, Freddy?" she asked.

"Yup," I nodded. "Let's get outta here so they can start makin' out again."

When we reached the living room Carlisle and Esme were behaving themselves. For the time being. Thank God. I drove to Chinook, and Alice led me to the photo machine.

"Alright, Eddie, what are you up to?"

I removed the items from my backpack and showed them to Alice. "I want to recreate my baby book for Esme for Christmas."

"Ooooh!" She was holding her hand across her heart. "That is so freakin' sweet of you! I think Mom will absolutely _love_ that!"

"I'm glad you think it's a good idea."

"It's not a good idea, it's a _great_ idea!"

First, I made her promise that she wouldn't tell anyone about my gift. She crossed her heart and all that shit before I opened the books. We searched through the baby book and photo albums, deciding on which pictures to copy. I wanted to make sure that none of the photos had Peter or Liz in them, but that was easier said than done. Alice helped me copy and crop many pictures so that only I appeared in them. There were so many photo choices that Alice suggested that I get a photo album and put the leftovers in it for Esme. I told Alice that I had also bought Esme picture frames for Christmas and wanted to see if she had any newer pictures I could put in them. We went through Alice's memory card from her camera and chose a few. When I clicked on the picture of Carlisle and I from this morning, I laughed out loud. While we didn't look as horrible as I thought, you could tell we had just woken up. I liked the picture so I went and got two prints of it. Alice was always clicking away on her camera so I had many to pick from. There was one of Carlisle, Emmett, Jasper, Uncle Tony, and I that she had taken back at Thanksgiving. Alice had gone off to find something when I saw a picture of the two of us from the dance. I clicked on it and got two prints of it too. With all my selections done and printing, I waited near the machine so that no one would take my prints. The photo albums and picture frames were near right there so I looked through them while keeping one eye on my photos. I decided to get frames for the extra pictures I had gotten—for myself, Carlisle, and Alice. I also took the time to pick out a nice photo album for Esme's extra pictures. Once my photos were done, I went and found Alice in the girlie feminine type aisle and my manhood sank.

"I'll meet you up front, I'm not waiting here." I told her, walking toward the registers.

"Sissy!" she yelled after me, laughing the entire time.

At the front of the store I spotted a display of calendars. Since I had to wait for Alice, I started browsing through them to waste time and spotted one that made me laugh.

"What has you in stitches?" Alice joined me and looked at the display. I held up my new found find. "We have to get that for Emmett! Can that be from both of us?"

"Yeah, I think we can manage that." I threw the Word a Day calendar for ninth graders into the basket. Emmett would be moving up in the world vocabulary wise. "Is there enough wrapping paper at the house for me?"

"Oh yeah, Mom has tons of the stuff."

"Okay, let's check out!"

After we paid for our purchases, we headed back to Bella's and rejoined everyone. The rest of the afternoon was spent with short bursts of time outside sledding and then returning to the house to warm up. During one of our times sledding we ran into Mike, Angela, Ben, and Tyler, who told us they frequently used the same hill to go sledding. Since Mike and Tyler had realized Bella wasn't interested in either of them, they had stopped panting after her. When the cold got to be too much, she invited them to join us back at her house. We watched movies and played some game Alice called "Mob Wars." It was a role playing game where, by picking a card, it determined what your role in the game was. It was fun until Charlie came home and didn't like all the yelling over top of one another that we were doing. Rose didn't take too kindly to the fact that Bella had been a member of the mob and had shot Rose outside of Chinook after searching for a present for Bella. "You bitch! You killed me! How the hell dare you!" Rose screamed while Emmett and I were laughing our asses off as Bella and Rose's voices got louder, and that was when Charlie came in and told us it was time to leave. I kissed Bella goodnight on the porch and left to go back home.

I had asked Esme about wrapping paper for my Christmas gifts. We went into the garage where she stored everything, and she told me to take whatever I needed. Never having wrapped much of anything, I took two packages of wrapping paper and a roll of tape. Carlisle had printed out the tickets for the Seahawks game and given me copies to give to Emmett and Jasper so they'd have actual proof of their present. I dug deeper into one of Esme's holiday containers and found greeting cards. Grabbing two, I figured wrapping Emmett and Jasper's presents would at least be easy.

I helped Esme with dinner. It had really become my unspoken chore, like Emmett's job of taking out the garbage. I watched and learned more tricks and tips to cooking and was enjoying my time with Esme in the kitchen. Don't get any ideas; I wasn't going to become the next Emerald LaGassi or whatever that loud BAM guy's name was.

Alice had come into the kitchen to get a drink when I felt her clutch my shirt as she started to slide toward the floor. "Whoa, Midg, what's wrong?" I dropped what I was doing and supported her weight so she wouldn't fall and sat on the floor with her. Alice's breathing was slightly labored and her eyes were tightly shut. "Calm down, Midg. Try to breathe normally."

Esme turned off the burner she was using, moved the pot to the back of the oven, and knelt down on Alice's other side. "Honey, what's wrong?"

"Spots in my vision… sick to my stomach…. can't breathe…dizzy as hell," she struggled to explain her symptoms.

"Edward." Esme glanced at me, and I knew what she was going to say.

"I'll go get Carlisle."

Jasper was at the counter, looking anxiously on as I ran out to the garage where Carlisle was supervising Emmett and Rose giving his car an oil change. Bursting through the door, I gripped the frame tightly and my knuckles quickly turned white. "Carlisle, it's Alice!"

He moved faster than I thought he would for a man of his age. I shifted out of the way and let him pass, trailing behind him. He bent down next to Alice and spoke to her but I couldn't hear what he said. A pounding in my head was interfering with my hearing and everything sounded muffled for a minute. Emmett and Rose came up behind me, wiping their hands on rags. "What's going on?" Emmett asked. "I thought Alice was going to be okay?"

"I don't know." I replied.

"We have to clean up," Rose said. "Come on, Emmett, let's clean up and then we'll see what's going on." Emmett swallowed nervously before following Rose back into the garage to clean up and wash their hands in the work sink.

"Jasper, can you carry Alice to the couch?" Carlisle asked. Jasper didn't answer; he just walked around the counter, went to Alice, and picked her up effortlessly like she was a feather.

I seriously needed to start working out with them.

Jasper placed Alice gently on the couch and then stood behind it, attentively watching Carlisle. Emmett and Rose, now all cleaned up, met me at the edge of the kitchen, watching Carlisle tend to Alice and a nervous Esme sit and fret at the end of the couch. Carlisle checked Alice's pulse and her pupils. Her breathing slowly came back down to normal, but she said she still felt off. She no longer saw spots in her vision.

Slowly sitting up, she quickly lay back down. "Nope, still dizzy and my stomach isn't right yet."

"We think you're having panic attacks, Alice," Carlisle said. "The good news is that you _will_ be fine. It's just going to be a pain to deal with them. Like right now, you'll never know when one of them is going to happen. It's very important that you tell us if any of your symptoms change though, okay, honey?" Alice nodded and Carlisle glanced at his watch. "It's been about fifteen minutes. Jasper, I want you to stay here with Alice for at least another fifteen minutes before she tries to get up again, okay?"

"Yes, that's no problem Mr. C!" Swear to God, I thought Jasper was going to salute Carlisle. Esme got up, kissed Alice on the forehead, and returned to the kitchen. Jasper took her place at the end of the couch.

"When you try to get up again, take it very slowly, Alice," Carlisle instructed her. "Don't rush and I want you to take it easy for the rest of the night."

"Okay, Dad."

"I'm going to give a quick call to Dr. Derbyshire to give her an update. I'll be back down in a little bit."

I returned to the kitchen to help Esme and noticed she looked worried. "Carlisle said she'd be okay," I reminded her.

"I know," she said, mashing the potatoes for dinner. "It's just that when one of my children is hurt, it hurts me too. It's a mother thing, you know?"

"Yeah… it's a sibling thing with me."

Jasper had dinner in the living room while Alice stayed on the couch and her stomach continued to calm down. Esme put a plate aside and Alice ate later when she felt better. We watched some television in Alice's room before we went our separate ways for the night.

I went to my room and decided I'd start on the baby book for Esme. I wanted the writing to be neat, so I needed to take my time. Time flew by as I entered the information and then went on to attach the pictures to the pages. I even transferred the lock of my hair into the book for her.

I had a head full of the unruly stuff, so what the hell did I need a piece of it in a book for?

On a roll, I decided to put the extra pictures in the photo album. I tried to arrange them chronologically because, well, it made the most sense to me. Now tired, I shoved Esme's gifts back into the shopping bags and my baby book and photo albums back into my backpack for the time being. I headed into the bathroom, brushed my teeth, and stripped down to my boxers.

Even though I was tired, I couldn't fall asleep right away. My mind started working overtime with various thoughts of what was going to happen tomorrow. What kind of questions would I be asked at the police station? How would Peter Masen react to seeing me? What would he tell me? Would he answer my questions? I fell into an uneasy sleep, dreaming about the emotional day I was bound to have.

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**A/N:** I played Mob Wars with my cousins in South Carolina while I was down there in August. Funny as hell. My own cousin killed me when I was at the Cracker Barrel with my mom.


	28. Why?

**DISCLAIMER:** I'm not Meyers or Andrews. Nope, not at all.

**REMINDER! **Support Stacie Authors Auction! I'm up for auction for a 2,500 word story AND I'm doing graphics for _any_ fandom. Check my profile page for more info.

**A/N:** This chapter was supposed to be contained in the last one, but both of them were too long to put together. Like Edward, I get wordy. I actually got this chapter out of my head in record time- I had this done and sent to my beta on Tuesday but she has been busy. She's gotta fix my misplaced comma's, tense confusion, and my other minor, idiotic errors. I think you've all been waiting for this one. You've wanted answers... you're getting answers. Without any further ado...

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**Chapter 28: Why?**

The next morning I woke before my alarm clock went off. At five fucking o'clock. And I couldn't get back to sleep. I lay in bed for two hours, quietly channel surfing the infomercials on TV, before finally getting up and taking a shower. My stomach felt the same way it had yesterday before seeing Bella—in a big, gigantic, queasy knot. Before going downstairs, I sat on my bed and looked through my little black notebook. Having nothing on my mind to add at the time, I opened the top drawer and looked inside. It was still there; face down in the drawer in the slightly tarnished gold frame. I picked it up, my fingers trembling, and slowly turned it around to look at it. I hadn't taken it out of my drawer since the day I had put it there the day Charlie had taken me to the Masen house. Maybe that was a good sign. Maybe it wasn't. I wasn't sure. I needed to move on, and looking at a picture of Peter and Liz every day wouldn't help at all. No wonder I stuck it in the drawer and never opened it. I didn't know what to do with it any more than I knew what to do with my emotions. I put the picture of the three of us face down on my night stand. Maybe when I arrived back home tonight I'd know what I should do with it, but for now I would keep it, even if I ended up keeping it hidden in the drawer.

I decided to head downstairs and on the second floor landing, I heard Carlisle and Esme's voices from their room so I stopped to say good morning.

"You're up early," Carlisle said, buttoning his shirt.

"I couldn't sleep." I said, hovering in the doorway.

He nodded like he knew what was running through my head. "We're going to leave after breakfast, okay? We'll catch lunch somewhere in Port Angeles."

"Sounds like a plan. I'm going to go for a walk and get the paper, 'kay?"

"Enjoy the walk." He said the words with a slight smirk.

"Whose idea was it to put this house so far back into the woods?" I asked curiously. Seriously, the drive way had to be at least a good mile away from the main road.

"It was mine," Esme volunteered. "I liked the idea of the peace and quiet back here."

"True, isn't it a pain in the butt for the newspaper, mail, and snow removal?" I was very glad that I was able to censor myself and didn't say 'ass' in front of Esme.

"The good outweighs the bad," she replied. "Everyone else is probably going to sleep in since there's no school. Do you want anything special for breakfast before I leave for work? I'm going to work for just a few hours."

"Nope, doesn't matter to me," I said, shrugging my shoulders. It really didn't matter to me. Everything she cooked tasted really good to me. "I'll be back in a few."

Bundling myself up for the cool weather, I took a leisurely stroll down the long ass driveway to fetch the paper. Why the hell had I said I was going to get the paper? It was fucking freezing out! Again, this was not one of my brightest moments. I hurried my pace, watching for black ice so I wouldn't slip and break a leg. That was all I needed. Once back into the warmth of the house, I hung up my jacket and kicked off my shoes. Placing the paper on the counter, I grabbed the tea kettle, put some water in it, set it on the burner, and turned it on. I sorted through a few items in the cabinet before I found a canister of some hoity toity expensive looking hot chocolate. I heard footsteps on the stairs, and Esme rounded the corner of the kitchen while I was standing next to the stove.

"Trying to warm up?" she smiled.

"Yeah, it's freezing out there." She spotted the tea kettle on the stove. "I'm just waiting for the water to boil."

"Oh, no, no, don't use water, use milk. It'll taste a lot better." She came over to the stove and turned the burner off. "Go ahead and sit down. I'll make it for you."

I sat down at the counter and browsed through the paper as Esme worked in the kitchen. Everything she did in the kitchen seemed like second nature to her. She knew exactly what she was doing, how to do it, and when to do it. It kind of reminded me of a robot, but Esme hummed along to her work and had a bounce to her step. I was sure the robot maid on _The_ _Jetsons_ didn't do that.

Esme came over and placed a mug in front of me. "There, now try that and tell me how it tastes."

I took the mug and raised it to my lips. It appeared to be steaming hot, so I blew on it a bit before taking a sip. "Hot, but really good," I said. "Thanks. You and Bella have spoiled me now. I won't be able to drink hot chocolate with simple hot water again."

She smiled nervously, reached out and brushed my cheek quickly before retracting her hand. "You know you don't have to do this today."

"No, you see, I do _have_ to do this," I explained. "For myself."

Her eyes were downcast toward the paper on the counter in front of me. "Let me get back to making the two of you some breakfast."

"I'll be fine." I didn't sound any more convincing today than I did on Saturday when I had told Bella the same thing.

Esme dropped the subject and focused her attention on making us a simple breakfast of bacon, eggs, and cheese on a hard roll. Carlisle came downstairs and sat next to me at the counter, taking the business section of the newspaper while I perused the world news. I read about fires, earthquakes, tornadoes, poverty, war, mudslides, and a tsunami. You'd think reading about all those poor people and sad events would make me feel a bit better about my life. Eh, maybe it did, even it was just a little. I now had a reliable, stable roof over my head. I no longer had to worry about where we were going to move next. I didn't need to worry about where my next meal came from. This house contained almost all the people in the world that loved me. That alone should have made me happy and content, but I wasn't.

Why?

I loved and looked up to Emmett—literally and figuratively—I knew that without a doubt. Ever since I had come to Forks, he had helped and supported me. I loved Alice in my own way, even if I was still getting used to her being my sister. Carlisle was pretty cool for a father. I could even see some of myself in him. I was glad that we got along, but I wondered if I'd ever consider him my father and just not a father figure. Esme was… well, something else completely. I didn't get it. I was close to both Peter and Liz, but it had been so much harder to let Esme into my life and heart.

In the midst of my daydreaming, my eyes spotted something in the newspaper, back in the gossip section. "Oh, damn."

"Something wrong, Edward?"

"Um, Emmett, Jasper, and I are in the paper," I said, moving it over to him so he could view it. "From the mall on Saturday."

Carlisle glanced at the paper and growled in disgust. "At least Emmett was smart enough not to punch that guy, even though he deserved it."

Esme came over, placed our sandwiches in front of us, and proceeded to reach for the paper. She stood across from us at the counter and read the short article that accompanied the picture while nibbling on a sandwich of her own. Carlisle called Percy to inform him of the article and to see if there was anything that could be done about it.

"I can't even go shopping without someone trying to get info on me," I complained. "This is really starting to suck."

"They'll stop soon enough." Carlisle said. "The next time a celebrity does something stupid like cut his hair, or when two costars get engaged, they'll be covering that instead."

"I hope so."

"Do you think that Emmett had an idea it was a set up?" Esme asked.

Carlisle shrugged. "Maybe. I know Emmett himself has said that he has some stupid moments, but in this case, he had a very smart moment."

"Hallelujah!" I said. "A smart Emmett moment! It has happened!" Finished with my breakfast, I got up to put the plate and mug into the dishwasher.

"Edward, you say the damnedest things sometimes." Carlisle said. "I don't know where you get it from."

"Thanks, I'll take that as a compliment, I think."

Esme giggled, collected her and Carlisle's plates, and brought them over to the dish washer. "Oh, honey, you know where he gets that from."

I closed the door and stood next to her. "Like father, like son?"

"The 'nice boobies' thing, remember?" Esme asked. I smiled at the memory of their first date that she had shared with me.

Carlisle appeared to be in shock from Esme's words but then smiled and laughed. "You have a nice butt, too."

"Oh, I do not need to know that!" I covered my ears with my hands. "Please change the subject! You're my mother and I do not need to know such things."

Esme's expression softened when I referred to her as my mother. Had that been the first time that I had done that I front of her? And then it dawned on me. "We're both butt and boob guys!"

Damn you, verbal diarrhea!

That was the last time we all laughed together before Carlisle and I left the house for the day. At the door, Esme stood there awkwardly before we left, and I could tell she was worried. "It'll be okay," I told her.

"I know." Her lips parted as if she was going to say something, but nothing else came out. I went and hugged her because I thought it was what she needed at that moment. Maybe it was what I needed too.

The drive to the Forks police station was short compared to what the drive to Port Angeles would be. We entered through the front doors, and a rush of memories came back to me. I shoved them back deep inside of me for the time being. I could always visit the basement later on tonight or take Emmett up on another plate party.

Carlisle walked up to the front desk and introduced himself. Not knowing what else to do, I simply followed him. "Carlisle and Edward Cullen to see Chief Swan."

Ah, jeez! I had to see Charlie today? Didn't yesterday fill my 'being scowled at quota' for the week?

We were told that Charlie was expecting us and were escorted back to his office. When the door to Charlie's office opened my eyes caught an unexpected and most unwelcome sight if I ever saw one. Ford, that fucking asshole LAPD officer, was in the room.

"Have a seat," Charlie said. "Ford is here in case he can gain any insight into the case against the Masens."

"Lovely," I muttered under my breath and took a seat across from Charlie's desk. "Can we get this party started so we can finish it ASAP?"

Carlisle sat down next to me. As Charlie sat down across from us, I noticed two tape recorders on his desk. He pressed a button on the one closest to him and Ford, sitting off to the side of Charlie's desk, pressed a button on the second one.

"Today is Monday, December 22, 2008, at the City of Forks Police department in Forks, Washington. This is an interview with Anthony Edward Cullen, furthermore known as Edward, in regards to his kidnapping by Peter and Elizabeth Masen. Those present are the aforementioned Edward Cullen, Carlisle Cullen, Sawyer Ford from the Los Angeles Police Department, and myself, Charlie Swan, Chief of the Forks Police Department." I didn't know Charlie would know how to use words like 'furthermore' and 'aforementioned'. He surprised the hell out of me. "Edward, some of these questions might seem repetitious, but we need to go over them with you and get them on the recording for reference."

"Okay, Charlie, fire away."

"Edward, did the Masens ever give you any indication that you didn't belong with them?"

I shook my head. "No, I had no clue."

Charlie glanced down at a piece of paper in front of him. "Did they ever talk about any of their other family?"

"Not much, no," I shrugged. "I don't know if it's true, but I was told that Liz's parents died in a car accident a year before I was born. Peter had mentioned his mother a few times, but I never met her and don't even know if she's still alive. He never mentioned anything about his father. Both of them supposedly had no other siblings so I never heard about aunts, uncles, or cousins."

"How did they treat you?"

Did we really have to go there again? "Like one of their own."

"Any abuse toward you of any sort? Physical? Verbal?"

I shifted uncomfortably in my seat. "No, they were good to me."

"Did Peter and Elizabeth ever demonstrate any hostile behavior toward each other?"

"No," I said. "Playful behavior, light love taps, you know, that sort of thing. Peter wasn't violent toward us."

Charlie nodded before continuing. "Have you ever seen your birth certificate?"

"No."

"Have you ever applied for a passport?"

"Like, me, personally apply for a passport?" I asked, and Charlie nodded. "No, I haven't. Did they ever apply for one for me? No idea. We could barely afford to live in the states, so that pretty much left traveling to other countries out of the question."

"Do you know which of them registered you for school?"

"I think Liz did it all the time," I said, trying to think back. "I don't remember Peter ever doing it. He was busy either working or finding another job."

Charlie's gaze lingered on me a bit too long for my liking. "Did you ever hear them say anything about the Cullens?"

"Only once," I said, recalling the night I heard them arguing outside of the house. "One night, Emmett and Alice dropped me off and I stopped at the front door. I heard them yelling, which was unusual for them. They never fought. I was upset so I went around to the back of the house for some reason. That was a stupid move because I heard them even more. Emmett saw me disappear, wondered what was going on, and came after me. He heard them arguing too. The only words I heard clearly from their fight that night was my name, 'Cullens,' and 'leave.' Peter was the one that wanted to leave, but, um, well, Liz wanted to stay. I think she was tired of moving so much. Also, she knew I had finally made friends, which I hadn't done in a really long time."

Ford leaned forward and made a notation on a pad of paper on Charlie's desk. "Your lack of friends, was that their decision or yours?" he asked.

"Mine," I replied. "When you've lived in fifteen states in seventeen years, you tend not to want to make friends."

Ford seemed confused over my comment. "Why?"

"Why?" I repeated. "Duh. Why get close to people if you're not even sure if you're going to finish the school year? Emotionally, it was easier for me just to go to school, do my work, go home, and avoid the other kids in my class. I shut myself off from others because I wanted to, because, in the end, it was the easiest thing for me to do."

I could feel Carlisle's gaze on me as I talked, but I couldn't turn and look at him. Ford sat back in his seat, and Charlie shot him a look. I know Charlie didn't like me much, but I could've sworn that he was pissed at Ford for questioning me.

Both Ford and Charlie made notations. "Did you ever observe any other suspicious behavior or phone calls?"

"No, not that I can recall."

"Do you know how the Masens found out about the Cullens being in the same town?" Charlie asked.

"I don't think they looked through the white pages, if that's what you mean," I supplied with a shrug. "Emmett and I have Photography class together in school, and he talked to me. In the cafeteria, I was happily sitting by myself when Bella came over to me and invited me to join them. I reluctantly went over and joined them. That's Bella, Emmett, Rose, Jasper, and Alice if you need exact names for the record. They didn't seem to care that I was poor and didn't make fun of me like the other kids in school. I slowly became friends with them. I told Peter and Liz Emmett's first name and at first they never asked his last name. We were in the Thriftway one day and Liz was working and we went on her register so I introduced everyone to her. I think I used last names then. I'm not one-hundred percent certain though."

Charlie looked down at the piece of paper in front of him again before continuing. "Do you remember which states you've lived in?"

"I was obviously born in California, but I don't remember being there. Some of the states I remember being in and others I know we were there, but I was too young so it's just what I was told."

"That's okay, can you list them for me?" Charlie asked.

"Um, sure," I said and gathered my thoughts for the soon to be state explosion. "So it was California, Texas, Florida, South Carolina, Delaware, New Jersey, New York, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Arizona, Utah, and now, Washington."

Charlie's eyebrows went up and down each time I mentioned a state. "Did you always seem to live in small towns?"

"Yeah, pretty much," I said. "Not all were as small as Forks, though. Usually suburbs of bigger cities, like an hour or two away, and Peter would commute to a job where the money was. Jersey was an exception to that rule. Although I wonder if that's because it seemed like that state was all highway. After that, we seemed to go back to staying in small towns."

Charlie's eyebrows started fucking dancing at my statement. "Do you remember the name of the town you lived in while in New Jersey?"

"Um, I remember it was in a nice area, close to New York…um, what the hell, there was something close to it, near one of the highways," I paused trying to remember because it was so damn long ago. "There was some castle nearby that they took me too. Ah, Medieval Times where they jousted on horses and stuff. They actually took me there. It was down near a stadium… um, football, maybe?"

"Giants Stadium? The Meadowlands?" Charlie asked.

"Yeah! That's it. We were near there. I remember I always thought it was odd that the New York Giants had their stadium in Jersey."

"Somewhere around Lyndhurst and Rutherford, New Jersey. I've been there," Ford said. He seemed pretty proud of himself. Did he want a fucking blow job? "That's a pretty ritzy area compared to how you've been living lately."

"That's the only time I remember being in a nicer area." It was also the only time that we had been that close to a big city. "They even took me to New York City on two occasions. I remember looking up at the buildings as we were walking because they're so tall. It felt stupid, but I couldn't help it. I was amazed, but I was like eight or something."

"Where'd they take you?" Charlie asked.

That was something I'd never forget. Liz had gotten me postcards and sometime during our next move, I had lost them. A small visual reminder of where I had been, where I had a good time, had disappeared out of my grasp. "They took me to the Ringling Brothers what ever you call it Circus and the Bronx Zoo." What the hell did that information have to do with anything?

Ford cleared his throat, and Charlie glanced at him. "I have a question. Did they ever deny you medical care while you were sick?"

"No, but I wasn't a sickly kid," I explained. "I had the chicken pox, ear aches, and regular colds and flus. No broken bones or anything that would require emergency treatment or a hospital stay. We stayed away from ER's because Peter always said they cost more. We didn't have health insurance, but I think we had Medicaid. We'd try over the counter medicine first, and if that didn't work, we found a clinic that would help us."

"Can you think of anything else that would be beneficial to the investigation?" Charlie's eyebrows had stopped dancing, and, for that, I was glad.

"I can't think of a thing, honestly," I said, shrugging. "I don't even see how what I told you could be helpful."

"This is the end of the interview with Anthony Edward Cullen." Charlie stopped the tape recorder in front of him, and Ford reached over and stopped his. "Thanks, Edward. You two are free to go now."

Carlisle and Charlie shook hands and made small chit chat for a moment while Ford, the fucking asshole that he is, stared at me the entire time. "Hey, if you like the way I look so much, why don't you take a damn picture, asshole?"

He seemed surprised at my outburst. "Sorry, I didn't mean to stare," he said, clearing his throat. Gathering his things, he got up and left Charlie's office.

"Sorry," I apologized. "I hate it when people stare at me."

Charlie surprised me. "No worries, I dislike him _much_ more than I dislike you." Then Charlie winked at me. Huh?

We left the station and started the long ride toward Port Angeles. About half way there, Carlisle pulled over in Fairholm at a pull off at Lake Crescent. "Let's go take a little walk," he said, opening his car door.

"Um, okay." It was the middle of winter, why did he want to take a walk near a lake? I followed him, and, when he stopped, I was in awe. The lake and mountains were frickin' beautiful. Although I had driven past this area at least four times, I had never paid attention to the scenery because Bella had been a huge distraction. Well, that and the fact that a large portion of the best view from the road was blocked by the trees that surrounded the lake. Everything was covered with a dusting of snow, and the lake had what looked to be a thin film of ice over it. "Wow, now this is a picture for a postcard."

"You should see the water in the summer," Carlisle said, bending down and picking up a rock. "It's a really beautiful blue." He played with the rock in his hand, taking a good look at it before he held it sideways, turned, and threw it toward the lake. The rock skipped along the water at the edge of the lake before it hit the ice and bounced along it. "Yup, I've still got it," he bragged.

Mmm, throwing shit. Sounds good to me.

I searched for a smooth flat rock, and my first attempt was laughable. "I haven't done this in forever."

I found another smooth, flat rock and Carlisle then explained the secret to skipping them. "Hold the rock horizontally. Curl your index finger around the edge, yeah, like that. You have to throw low and parallel to the surface of the water at the level of your waist and snap your wrist when you throw it," he instructed. When the rock left my hand, it bounced and skipped almost as much as Carlisle's. "Great job!"

We continued for a few more minutes, skipping rocks quietly, with the exception of a hoot or holler when one of us managed to send one skipping farther than a previous attempt. On the way back to the car, Carlisle put his arm around my shoulder and I felt his hand against the side of my head. We stopped and he rested his chin against the top of my head. "You know, just because it's easy and it's what you're used to doing, it doesn't mean that you have to shut yourself off from us. We love you."

"I know, Dad, I'm trying."

"Give us a chance. That's all I'm asking," he said, releasing me from his hold. "Come on, I don't know about you, but I'm freezing my ass off."

We were mostly silent for the rest of the ride to Port Angeles. Carlisle had satellite radio in his car, but the mountains would often interrupt service for periods of time. He let me flip through the channels and I landed on a station with some instrumental music. Maybe it was classified classical music, I didn't know. I listened for a few seconds before removing my hand from the dial and leaning back into my seat.

"You like classical music?"

"I like all different types of music," I confessed. "This is kind of soothing."

Staring out the window, I tried to relax, but I was anxious for this afternoon. I was wondering what Peter was going to say to me and if it would be the truth. Would he lie and continue to cover up his crime? Even though he had treated me as a son, I wondered what he was really like. Was there another side to him, like Jekyll and Hyde? When would he have shown that other side? Most of the time, we had no extra money to spare, so he went to work and came back home. He rarely visited a bar and never came home drunk and unable to walk.

Carlisle pulled off the 101 and turned onto an access road. I watched the scenery of Port Angeles go by before we pulled into the parking lot of Wildfire Grill. "This place is pretty good. I would've loved to go to Blue Flame BBQ, but unfortunately, they're not open today."

"You like a barbeque restaurant?" I tried to imagine Carlisle sitting at a table, eating ribs with his hands with barbeque sauce smeared all over his face and laughed. "Sorry, trying to imagine you eating and being all messy."

"It is messy, but it's so good… and Esme isn't really into it. It would've been something nice to share with you." We got out of the car, closed the doors and started walking toward the restaurant.

"If it's that good, we'll have to come back sometime," I said. "Show me what all the fuss is about."

"Emmett and Jasper like Blue Flame too. Maybe we can make a guys night out of it? We can all go to the movies or something." Carlisle chuckled. "Well, that's if you guys don't mind your old man hanging out with you for the night."

"Eh, you're not too bad," I said. "Once you start sportin' a cane, I can't make any promises."

He laughed heartily as we walked through the front doors of Wildfire. We had to wait for a few minutes for a table. Once seated, we started looking through the menus and I wasn't sure what I should get. Everything sounded so good, but then my eyes caught the prices.

"Yikes!"

"Edward, don't worry about the prices," Carlisle said. "You're not paying, remember?"

"It still feels weird being in a place like this." Even though the dress code was obviously casual, it was a steak and seafood place so the prices were more than what I was used to. "If I get something that is pricey, then I feel like I'm taking advantage of your generosity. What can you suggest? Everything sounds good."

With Carlisle's help, I finally chose what to order. After he was done laughing at me, that is. I guessed that Emmett and Alice had no problem with looking at a menu where ever they went. We made small chit chat before and during the meal. He asked me what I had gotten everyone for Christmas. I wouldn't tell him about Esme's gift, but I filled him in on what I got for Alice, Rose, and Bella. I was glad to hear that he thought I had made some excellent decisions. Carlisle asked me what other music I listened to, and I told him about buying the Linkin Park CD on Saturday.

"You probably won't believe this, but I actually like their Reanimation CD."

I almost dropped my fork. Carlisle Cullen liked Linkin Park? "You're shitting me?"

"After a long day, it's great to listen to on the way home to keep me awake."

Lunch was fantastic, and I was fuller than I had ever been before. As we headed toward Clallam County Jail, I wondered if having such a good meal before seeing Peter was such a good idea. I was so nervous that I was totally feelin' as if I was going to upchuck my entire pricey lunch. Once we reached the jail, we had to wait in a line with a few other visitors until it was just before two o'clock. Very slowly, the line moved forward, and we were searched before going any further. Carlisle had to rent a locker to store our things in. We were ushered to one room which most of the visitors spilled into. Carlisle and I were now in the lead, behind the guard, and he led us to another room which we were instructed to go into. Since there were others behind us, I headed for the table to the extreme right. The other two people must have been together because they both went to the extreme left and sat together.

"Edward, I want to give you some privacy," Carlisle said. "With the guard's permission, I'm going to take a chair and sit by the door."

"Okay, I appreciate it." I hadn't thought too much about how this was going to work before now. I knew Carlisle had to be here since I was a minor, but I didn't know if he had to be in the room or even right next to me during the visitation. Carlisle went over to the guard outside the door, spoke to him, and then removed a chair from an empty table. He positioned himself right inside the door, far enough to give us privacy, but close enough incase I needed him. I heard a click and another door, opposite the one I had walked in, opened up. A man walked out and went over to the other table to the left, smiling as he walked toward them. The two women greeted him happily with smiles and laughter, saying hello. Peter walked out behind him and stopped, staring at me. His eyes flickered toward Carlisle's direction and then back to me. The guard behind Peter nudged him forward. He slowly walked toward me, his face holding no emotion. I silently wished there was a waste basket next to the table. Although he had only been in jail for a little over a week, he looked older, as if his imprisonment was taking a toll on him. I was torn whether I really wished that on him. I stayed seated, unsure if my legs would hold my weight or if I would instantly fall crying into the fetal position onto the cold tiled floor beneath me.

Peter walked slowly toward me and held on to the chair in front of him. "Hello, um… you're still going by Edward?"

I swallowed hard and exhaled before answering. "Yes, that's right."

"Are you sure you want to do this?" His fingers curled around the back of the chair. He was nervous too. Good.

"I need to."

He nodded, pulled out the chair, and sat down across from me. There was a guard stationed by the back door. I turned in the direction where Carlisle was sitting. He was still there, watching us intently, another guard right outside the door. I turned back to Peter.

"I was surprised to find out that you wanted to see me," Peter admitted, his voice low, barely above a whisper. "Why are you here?"

"Why?" I asked. "That's what I need to hear from you. Why'd you take me?"

Peter stared at his hands that were clasped together on the table. "I'll tell you anything you want."

"I guess that means you have to start from the beginning, whatever that is. How long before I was born did you have this planned? Were you the brains of the kidnapping or was it Liz's idea?"

His face snapped up and his eyes met mine at the mention of Liz's name. "She doesn't know anything. This is entirely my fault."

"Explain."

"Liz and I met in high school," he started off before pausing to gather his thoughts. He then continued to speak very quietly, so quietly that at times, he was hard to hear. "We were young and in love. We were high school sweethearts." Peter had a far away look as he recalled his past. "Liz's parents were killed in a car accident in our senior year of high school. She became a ward of the state for a few months, until she turned eighteen. Then she moved in with me and my mother, and my mother didn't like it one bit. For some reason, she never liked Liz. Mom always said that Liz was a weak person. What did my mother want from her? Liz had lost both her parents in a car accident in which she survived. She felt guilty for surviving and had flashbacks. She'd wake up in the middle of the night, screaming. She was still very fragile. Mom was religious and didn't approve of two people having sex who weren't married. We decided to strike out on our own and find jobs. Liz was hired by your grandmother Camilla as a housekeeper. A few days later, I was hired as a groundskeeper and maintenance person. Camilla had a huge estate in California and we were both kept very busy."

Peter paused to gather his thoughts before continuing. "We were married in a simple ceremony by the justice of the peace. My mother didn't even attend. Our witness was a stranger neither of us knew. Although we were careful, Liz confessed to me that she was late and a visit to the clinic confirmed that she was pregnant."

I leaned forward toward him. "What?"

"You didn't hear incorrectly, Liz was pregnant," he said. "A day before you were born, Liz's water broke a little bit earlier than we had anticipated, but it's not unusual for a baby to be born a week or two early. I took her to the hospital and later on that night, she delivered a stillborn baby."

"Oh, God," I sat back in my chair. "What… how did she react?"

"Not well. She was hysterical and had to be sedated," he said. "She went back and forth between blaming herself and not having any idea of what really happened. When she blamed herself, she said it was because she didn't get better prenatal care and a slew of other things. I blamed myself because during the pregnancy she was forced to work to help keep a roof over our heads."

He looked away to his left for a moment, wiped his eyes, and cleared his throat. "Liz kept asking for her baby. 'Where is he? I want to see him. Where's my baby?' she'd ask over and over. The next day Camilla called me back to the house. I was worried that because of our absence from work, that we were both going to be fired. As soon as I walked into Camilla's office, I knew she was up to something, but I never would've imagined what she asked me."

"What was that?"

"She asked me if we wanted a baby to replace the one we had lost." He gulped and so did I. Wrapping my arms around myself, my fingers dug at my sides through my shirt. "She lied. Camilla said that a housekeeper at another one of her estates had a baby and couldn't keep it. I don't even know if she had another estate. That could've been a lie too. This other woman supposedly didn't want the baby, didn't believe in abortion, and wanted to give it up for adoption. Camilla offered us a new life. Money and a baby to replace the one we had lost so we could make a fresh start somewhere else. At first, I was reluctant, but then the hospital called the house looking for me because Liz had to be sedated again. I took her up on the offer, and Camilla said she'd make all the arrangements and we'd have our new baby the next day."

I was having a hard time not feeling bad for Liz. "How'd you deal with Liz in the meantime?"

"Her mental state was up in the air at that point," he explained. "She continued to be sedated a lot. She didn't remember giving birth to a stillborn baby. It was totally blocked from her memory. I managed to convince her that I was going to take her to see her baby. I think I told her something like she had to be kept in the hospital because of a complication, but the baby was fine and was able to go home. Yeah, I told her the staff at Camilla's was watching the baby while I was away. She calmed down, and I was able to get her released from the hospital. We went back to Camilla's estate where she had a baby in a basinet next to her desk in her office. I thought of that room as her evil lair because so many sinister things must have happened in that room over the years."

"Fitting term," I mused. "Please continue. I'm assuming the baby in the evil lair was me?"

"That's right. While Liz was busy oohing and ahhing over you in the basinet, Camilla handed me an envelope which contained a birth certificate and adoption papers," he said. "Why she only switched your first and last name, I'll never know."

"You never questioned the papers, at all?"

"Not right away. Camilla urged us to leave California for a fresh start. She told me that she knew of someone in Texas that we could work for. We were given enough money to move and live comfortably." Peter was starting to struggle with his words. "She even gave us a car to get there. I had never seen Camilla be that nice to anyone, so I wondered why she wanted us to move away. I mean, I saw her yell at her staff for doing the littlest thing wrong. We had worked for her for such a small amount of time, so I wondered why she was being so nice to us. I was curious, but more concerned about Liz and her well being, so we left."

"Liz didn't care that you were moving to another state?" I asked curiously. "She just packed up and left?"

"She didn't care because she was in love. She had me, our baby, and life was good," he said. "Liz would've followed me anywhere. It wasn't until we had reached Texas and I saw the news about your kidnapping that I started to worry. I pieced things together and assumed that we had you."

Placing my hands on the table, I leaned forward. "And you didn't do anything?"

"I was scared. I couldn't take you away from Liz. She had such a bad year with losing her parents. No one would've believed that Camilla _gave_ you to me. I was a blue collar worker, she was a rich socialite," he explained. "Besides, I was threatened. Our new employer obviously knew what was going on. He saw me sitting outside, looking worried one day."

"How'd you know that he knew?"

"He told me to forget about what I was thinking about and to move on with my life or there'd be dire consequences. I was fearful for my life, as well as Liz's and yours. If your own grandmother wanted you out of the picture so much, what would she to do you if you were returned to your family?"

No wonder Carlisle and Tony disliked the woman so much. I had never met her, but I imagined her sporting devil's horns and having a villainous laugh, sitting in a high backed chair of her evil lair. "So you wanted to protect me and Liz?"

"That's right." He moved forward in his seat and leaned on the table. "Listen, Edward, I'm sorry for what I did. I am. I really am. I was young, stupid, and naïve. I should've never taken Camilla up on her offer. I should've known that something was up. I am sorry for taking you away from your family."

We sat silently while I gathered my thoughts. I went over the conversation I had earlier back at the Forks Police Department with Charlie. "Why did we have money when we were in Jersey?"

"Your kidnapping was mentioned on _America's Most Wanted_," he explained. "I made the very dangerous and stupid move of contacting Camilla and asking her if she wanted her grandson returned or not. She hung up on me, but two weeks later a big menacing lookin' guy showed up at my job with an envelope and a message. As he handed me the envelope, he told me 'She didn't appreciate you contacting her' and then he left without another word. With that money, we were able to live more comfortably for a bit. When it started to disappear, that's when we moved."

"I was able to go to the house to get my things," I said. He glanced at me kind of oddly. "I didn't have much, but I wanted what was mine. I also found some money you had. It's a total of three hundred dollars. For some reason, I also took your pocket watch. Do you want the money and the watch?"

"Keep the money, do whatever you want with it. As for the watch, it was my father's. I only have a court appointed attorney, so if you could get it to him or Liz for me, I'd appreciate it."

"How can I be so sure that you're not lying to me about all of this?"

Peter closed his eyes and sighed before looking at me. "I took you when I shouldn't have. I admit that, but I never lied to you about anything. I always told you the truth about anything you asked about. I love you, Edward. Over the years, you did feel like you were a part of me, like you were my own flesh and blood."

"But I'm not." My teeth were clenched. "You took me from my family and now I call my own mother by her first name because I can't call her 'Mom,' and I see how much that breaks her heart every damn day. I didn't grow up with my brother or my sister. I lost all that time with them and with Carlisle and Esme. Anyone can see how close Emmett and Alice are to them. I could've had a more comfortable life instead of growing up in pig sties all the time. I could've had a choice of what I wanted to do with my life instead of thinking all this time that I had none. That I was going to end up like _you_."

"I thought I was protecting you," he said, his voice shaky and uneven.

I was trying to keep my anger at bay, but it was becoming harder and harder to do. I leaned forward, my hands balled into fists, my ass hung off the chair, and my face was in Peter's. "That's supposed to be Carlisle and Esme's job; it wasn't supposed to be yours. You had no right to me." I felt a hand on my shoulder. Turning around, I saw Carlisle behind me, and I knew he was concerned. "It's okay, I'm not done yet."

Carlisle glared at Peter before his eyes met mine again. "Okay," he said, squeezing my shoulder before letting go and returning to his chair by the door.

I sat back and watched Peter. "He loves you so much, you know," he said.

"I know, they all love me, they're my family."

He grinned, and it seemed out of place at the moment. "It's so much more than that, Edward. You were always such a good kid, never complaining about anything."

"To be honest, I didn't know any better," I said. "Except for that brief time in Jersey, we never had any money. Even then, we didn't lead an extravagant life."

"You're a great kid," he said. "I really hope you can cope and heal. You deserve it. I've always wanted the best for you but was never able to deliver it. I hope you have a great life with your family, but stay away from Camilla. No good can come from seeing her."

"Yeah, I'll remember that." Something was bothering me, and now I knew what. "Have you told this story to anyone else? I mean, I know you did something wrong, but do you deserve as much jail time as someone who took me on purpose, willingly, and without regret?"

"It doesn't matter, my life is over now," he said solemnly. "I'm hoping that my confession will clear Liz so that her name can be free and clear of any charges."

"Wait, you're going to confess to taking me?" I asked in shock. "It wasn't entirely your fault."

"I hope that you believe me, but I know no one else will. Why would Camilla want you out of the picture? Her own grandson? It's never made any sense to me," he said. "I'm going to plead guilty to kidnapping and take whatever punishment they give me."

My eyes were trained on the table in front of me. "That doesn't seem right. You didn't know and you were scared."

"Look at me." I raised my eyes from the table and met his. "Don't defend me, Edward. I'm a bad man and I did something wrong and I continued to keep you year after year when I could've taken you back to your family. Hey, look at it this way. I'll have a chance to have the same roof over my head for more than a year and three square meals a day. That's more than I ever did for you."

"You were protecting me, you said it yourself," I said. "You treated me like your own. And you never abused me. Although there's times when I wished you did so I could hate you. It'd make this entire situation easier."

He leaned forward in his chair, and I saw the guard take notice of Peter's actions. "Stop defending me. I didn't need to abuse you so that you'd hate me. Hate me because I took you when you didn't belong to me."

The guard came over to the table. "Masen, sit back and calm down or your visit will be cut short." One hand was on his nightstick.

Peter looked at the guard and shook his head. "We're done," he said and then returned his gaze to me. "Edward, I hope you have a good life. Let Carlisle, Esme, and your siblings into your heart. Forget about me and Liz. You'll be better off." He stood up and faced the guard, but then turned back in my direction. "And remember, forget about your grandmother. I urge you not to see her—ever. No good can come from seeing that woman. Be good. Be safe."

He turned and walked away from me, the guard in tow, through the back door. It slammed shut behind them and although the room wasn't empty, it suddenly felt that way. Leaning forward, my elbows rested on the table with my head in my hands. I wanted answers and I sure as hell got them. I just didn't know what to do with them. One minute I had been pissed as hell at Peter and the next… oh, my fuck, was I defending my fucking kidnapper? Was I fucking insane? Or was I suffering from something like Stockholm Syndrome? Mother fucker!

I felt a presence to my left and turned to see Carlisle sitting in a chair next to me. "Did talking to Peter help at all?"

"Honestly, I'm not sure," I replied and gazed at the door Peter had gone through. "I'm still trying to sort it all out."

"The two of you were talking so low, I couldn't hear anything," he explained. "So I wasn't eavesdropping or anything. Do you want to talk about it?"

"No, not right now," I said. "I'm tired of talking right now. I need to think. I think."

"We've got an hour ride home, so you'll have plenty of time to think. Come on, let's go get our stuff and get out of here."

I rose from the chair sluggishly, as if my feet weighed a ton. I didn't know how to take the information that Peter had told me. It was like I was in a fog, floating, confused, and restless all at the same time. I was numb. As we walked down the hallway, Carlisle put his arm around my shoulders, guiding me through the station because my eyes were mostly trained on the floor. We got our things and left, back out through the front door and to Carlisle's car.

I didn't remember leaving Port Angeles. Carlisle put on some music for the ride back, but I didn't even pay attention to what it was. It could've been rap music, which I mostly hated with a passion, for all I knew.

One thing kept on running over and over through my mind. I never had grandparents before. I thought they were supposed to love you and dote on you. They spoiled you when your parents wouldn't. Gave you things your parents wouldn't. They wanted pictures to watch you grow up through the years. If that was the case with grandparents, then why the hell did my own grandmother give me away?

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**A/N:** I hope it lived up to your expectations! Let me know! The next chapter should be a doozy too!

All you new readers! Drop me a line! Let me know where you found me and stuff. I'd love to know where on earth y'all keep coming from. I'm never rec'ed anywhere that I know of (except occasionally by Austen at the Lion_Lamb LJ), so I have no idea where everyone suddenly comes from.


	29. Betrayal

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Twilight. I do own... a lot of crap. After tomorrow (September 20th) I hope to be the proud owner of a picture with **Peter Facinelli** because he is going to be at the mall in my town doing an autograph signing. I have to work tomorrow morning, but am planning on hauling my ass down to the mall afterward and waiting on that line until I get to meet him. If anyone is reading this and going, "OMG, Peter is going to be at the mall near me! Autumn Dreamer must live somewhere close!" for Christ Sakes, PM me! Maybe we can hook up and say hello. It'd be great to meet a fellow local Twilight fan.

**A/N:** Originally I had wanted this chapter to be with Chapter 28, but damn Twilighted and their word limits. It didn't work out that way.

Many thanks to Meg and Betty for info on jails and laws for the last chapter. I think they both have too much personal experience if you ask me. Thanks as always to my wonderful beta, Bridget.

The _Support Stacie Auction_ raised over $35,000 dollars. The lucky people who "own" me in some form or fashion are AnjieNet and TwilightFan104 who both won stories. BQOTFU and HaloJones both purchased graphics.

Fully expecting some Haterade my way because of the way this one ends.

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**Chapter 29: Betrayal**

I sat silently in the car on the way home, going through every single detail of everything Peter Masen had told me. Was everything a lie? Or was it all true? Carlisle's gaze stayed on the road, his eyes unwavering, driving us toward home. I still couldn't fathom how his mother, _my grandmother_, could give me away like I was a trinket. Maybe I should have been glad she hadn't thrown me in the trash. Actually, I was surprised that I hadn't ended up in a landfill somewhere. She would've had a solid guarantee that I'd never show up ever again.

About half way home I was tired of quietly mulling things over, and the dam that had been holding my emotions back burst and words that I would surely regret later flowed from my mouth. "What the hell kind of fucked up family do I come from anyway?"

Carlisle's head flicked in my direction and quickly back to the road. "What are you talking about?"

"Peter told me that your mother _gave_ me to him," I told him. "To replace a baby that Liz had lost. She claimed that one of her maids from another one of her estates was pregnant, didn't believe in abortion, and needed to find the baby a good home."

Carlisle's left hand flew out and punched the horn, causing it to blare loudly. His fingers then gripped the steering wheel tightly. "Oh, God." He opened his mouth to say something, but nothing escaped before his lips met in a tense line. His jaw was set sternly, and from his profile, he appeared to be angrier than I had ever seen anyone ever be. He turned his head away slightly so that I couldn't see his entire profile, but he could still see the road. It kind of startled me because I had never seen Carlisle angry before. He was always pretty mellow, calm, and a go with the flow kind of guy.

"Did Camilla even have another estate?"

Carlisle shook his head slightly. "Not that I know of." His voice was low, and it sounded as if he was having a hard time speaking.

"Peter said that once he realized who I was, he kept me because he thought I needed to be protected from Camilla." Carlisle had pulled the car over, and we were sitting on the side of the road, next to Lake Crescent after he shifted the BMW into park. Leaning back into his seat, he continuted to look straight ahead, a look of distress plastered across his face. "Instead of getting in contact with you or Esme, he kept me and treated me like a son. I am so screwed up right now. I don't know if I should be thankful that he took me and saved me or to hate him for making me love him. Part of me wishes that they had mistreated me so I could hate them. It'd make this all so much easier."

Carlisle leaned forward against the steering wheel, his forehead touching the cool leather while his hands rested on either side of head. "Please, don't say that. You don't mean that."

"I do," I said defiantly. "Then I could hate them and never want anything to do with them ever again. Instead, I feel bad for Peter and Liz. Not only did Liz lose her own baby all those years ago, she's lost me now too. And I don't even know if she knows that I'm not hers yet."

Opening his door, Carlisle got out of the driver's seat and slammed the door shut. I unbuckled my seat belt and got out of the car. Carlisle was standing in front of his door, facing my direction with his hands leaning against the roof. It almost looked as if the car was holding him up and he was about to collapse. I noticed that he looked pale, as if he was sick.

"Please stop saying that you wished they abused you." His voice was low, almost inaudible, across the short distance of the car as he struggled with the words. "Don't ever wish that. It wouldn't make this situation any easier on you."

"I'm not sure about that."

Carlisle sighed. "Edward, do you know how hard it is to _hate_ a member of your family because of what she's done to you? I haven't seen Camilla since shortly after my father passed away."

"Why?" I asked curiously.

"Because of what she did to me and Tony while we were growing up," he explained, his eyes trained steadily on mine. "She is an abusive, manipulative, horrible, money hungry woman that I don't wish to associate with. It hurts to say that I actually _hate_ my mother, but I do. I can't stand her. When I say she's a bitch, I mean it. It's wrong, but I sincerely hope she burns in hell."

Carlisle's words shocked me. He had always seemed so kind hearted. I never imagined him hating anyone, especially his own mother. But it was no wonder Carlisle had winced when I mentioned wishing that I had been mistreated. I was now sorry that I had brought up the subject. "Wait, she abused you and Uncle Tony? What about your father? He didn't stop anything?"

"Don't get me wrong, my father was a good man, but he was busy with work and didn't see everything," Carlisle explained. "He turned a blind eye to the situation because he didn't know how to deal with it. My father provided for us and loved us, but he didn't know how to be a father in the true sense."

"You didn't think to go to him and tell him what happened?"

"We were young and Camilla had us brainwashed to a certain extent about what she did to us. We thought parents were supposed to knock their kids around when they misbehaved or didn't do something wrong." Carlisle paused and looked away for a moment. He inhaled deeply before returning his gaze to mine.

"What the hell did she do to you?"

Carlisle closed his eyes and lowered his head toward the roof of the car. "It'd be categorized as physical and mental abuse these days. I don't really wish to go and relive any of that."

"I'm sorry." It was so hard to imagine Carlisle being knocked around by his mother when he was younger. I was grateful that he and Tony hadn't let the experience ruin their lives.

"That's why I have always tried to be there for my kids, no matter what. See, in my mind there's a distinct difference between being a father and being a dad. Any man can go have a child and be a father. Following through with your parental responsibility and spending time with your kids, caring for them, not turning a blind eye—now that's being a dad. You know what I mean?" he asked.

I nodded. "I think so."

"See, I wanted to be a better parent to my kids than both of my parents ever were to Tony and me. I had the chance to commute to Seattle every day for a more prestigious position at a hospital there. It's a three and a half hour commute both ways, but for what? I didn't decide to study medicine for the money or prestige. I want to help people. Esme wanted to stay in Forks, so I stuck with work closer to home so I could spend time with my family. Emmett had football and baseball practice when he was younger, and I tried to make as many games as I could. More than once I've worn a freakin' tiara and attended a tea party because it's what made Alice happy. I know Emmett and Alice are a little spoiled, but I've always wanted the best for them and encouraged them to help others."

"I think they turned out pretty decent," I said with a sly smile. "Alice wanted to buy me an entire wardrobe but settled on giving me Jasper's clothes. Emmett let me drive his Jeep for the road test and paid the fees at the DMV for me."

"I know about all of that," he said. "They talk to me, too, you know. You're not the only one who knocks on the door to my study."

"I kind of miss our little talks actually," I admitted sheepishly. Maybe if I had talked to Carlisle more, my knuckles wouldn't be battered and bruised. "I didn't want to keep bothering you about stupid stuff."

"You're my son, you're not bothering me, and it's not stupid stuff." His face had softened and his voice no longer had an edge to it like when he spoke of Camilla. "It's your life. I'm always going to be there for you, whether you need me or not. You're my son," he repeated. I shifted and stared uncomfortably at the ground. My throat felt constricted and I wanted to speak, but nothing came out. When I raised my head, Carlisle was still focused in my direction. "What is it, Edward?"

I slowly walked around the back of the car and met Carlisle on his side. "Please tell me that you and Esme had nothing to do with it." My voice cracked, and I felt a tear slide down my cheek as I sought reassurance from him. "That this mess is all because of Camilla. Tell me that you wanted and missed me. That you and Esme had nothing to do with giving me away. Please."

Carlisle stepped forward and cupped my face in his hands. His thumb brushed the renegade tear from my cheek. "We've missed you every day you've been gone," His voice was shaky as he took another step in my direction and embraced me. "Every year that passed hurt a little more than the last. We've always wanted you in our lives. I can't tell you how hard it was every year when your birthday passed to watch Esme mourn for you. I never imagined that I could hate Camilla more, but if Peter is telling the truth... I could kill her myself."

We stood still, Carlisle still holding me, as I let his words sink in. "I…I want to love you and Esme, b-but I'm not there yet."

"I know," he said, releasing me from his grasp, his hand still resting on my shoulder. "And I also realize that it may take a long time or there's the very real possibility that it'll never happen. My own mother is to thank for that and it makes me sick even thinking about it."

"What are you going to do with what I told you?"

His hand fell from my shoulder and to his side. "What do you want me to do?"

I nervously ran a hand through my hair with my eyes fixed on the ground. "What I'd like to happen and what will happen are probably two very different things."

"I'll have Percy talk to Peter and if Percy thinks he's telling the truth, maybe we can help." I raised my head to look at Carlisle. "I'm not saying that he won't end up getting out of serving any jail time, but if he cooperates and testifies against Camilla, maybe he can get a reduced sentence."

"What about Liz?"

"It sounds as if she doesn't deserve to be incarcerated," he said. "If she honestly thought that you were her own son, then I don't see why she should be charged with any crime."

I shivered from the cold and wrapped my arms around myself. "I'd like to see her one last time, if possible, to… to say good-bye, ya know?"

"If she's up to it, I'll make sure you get to say good-bye." Carlisle grabbed at the edges of his unbuttoned coat and tugged it closer to him. "I don't know about you, but I'm freezing my cojones off. Alright with you if we get back in the car?"

"Perfectly fine with me 'cause I'd like to keep my cojones, thank you very much." We both laughed and got back into the car.

"I'm sorry," I apologized.

Carlisle started the car, but didn't shift it into park. "For what?"

"For having to grow up with a mother like Camilla," I said. "I'm confused about a lot of things right now, but I can tell you without a doubt that you're a good parent."

He smiled, turned the key in the ignition, and cranked up the heat. "I'm glad I did something right in my life."

"You helped create Emmett and Alice," I said. "They're pretty cool so that'd be something else that's 'right'."

Carlisle placed his palm against the back of my neck. "You ain't too bad yourself, you know."

"And I'm sorry that I ever thought you or Esme could've-"

"Don't even continue." Carlisle cut me off before I could continue apologizing. "I know you're an emotional basket case right now."

"That sure is a way to put it."

"Just always remember that we love you and will always be there for you, even if you think you no longer need us." Carlisle ruffled the hair at the back of my neck before removing his hand and gripping the steering wheel. "Don't ever forget that, Edward."

"I'll keep that in mind."

A few minutes later when we reached the center of Fairholm, Carlisle pulled into the Fairholm General Store and ran inside. He came back out carrying two hot chocolates. The rest of the ride was spent mostly in silence between me and Carlisle. He had dug out the Linkin Park CD that he kept in the car and handed it to me. I looked it over and popped it into the CD player, and the both of us tried our damnedest not to head bang for the rest of the way home.

As he pulled into our long driveway, a thought came to me. "What do well tell the others? Do we tell them the truth about Camilla?"

"We should keep it to our little circle, you know?"

Even though I didn't know how I would talk to her about my kidnapping, I wondered if that included outside family members. "Does that include Bella?"

"Of course. Bella is always included as a member of our family, as well as Jasper and Rose."

"Just wanted to double check."

When we walked inside, Esme was at the kitchen counter with papers spread out in front of her. From the looks of things, she was doing a little work from home, but I knew nothing about interior design. "How'd everything go?" she asked anxiously from her spot on the stool. Little did she know that I knew she wanted to come running over to me. It was written all over her face. She was an open book in that regard.

"Oh, super duper," I said sarcastically, stomping my feet to remove the excess snow off my boots. I took off my jacket and draped it over my arm. "The stuff at the police station wasn't so bad."

Carlisle placed his hand on my shoulder and guided me over to the kitchen. He sat down next to Esme at the counter, while I chose to stand across from them. "Peter told Edward that Camilla _gave_ Edward to him."

"_What?_" Esme's jaw dropped as the color drained from her face. "That… Carlisle, you know I've never liked your mother."

Carlisle reached out and took one of Esme's hands in his. "I know, neither have I."

"Liz had a stillborn baby the day before I was born," I supplied. "Camilla gave me to them as a replacement along with some money to start brand new. She told him that a maid at another one of her estates needed to find a good home for their baby that they couldn't keep."

"He never thought to look more into that?" Esme's entire body seemed to be trembling in anger. Carlisle placed his other hand on her back and rubbed it in a vain attempt to calm her. It occurred to me that Carlisle hadn't looked back in my direction. I assumed his eyes were trained on Esme's hand which was clasped tightly in his right one. His posture was stiff, as if he had a wooden board strapped to his back.

I shrugged. "Too much was going on at once. Liz ended up totally blocking out that she had lost a baby. Peter was worried about her and losing their jobs. As he put it, he was young, stupid and naïve. It wasn't until later, when we were in Texas, that he started to put two and two together. He was threatened and thought that keeping me with them would keep me safe from Camilla."

Esme stared blankly at the counter for a moment before meeting my gaze. "Liz doesn't know anything, at all?"

"Nothing. It would explain why she's been so confused about everything," I said. "Right, Carlisle?"

He finally met my eyes to answer my question. Like back in the car, his jaw was set firmly and his anger had appeared to return. "In my opinion, yes, that's exactly why she's been so upset and had to be sedated over everything."

"Listen, like, my brain is a bit fried from today," I explained. "I'm going to go upstairs and rest for a bit before dinner, okay?"

"Okay, dear," Esme said. "Alice, Jasper, and Rose went out, but Emmett is up in his room. Bella is on her way over, but if you sleep through dinner I'll save you some and you can eat later."

"Sounds good," I replied. "Carlisle can fill you in on what happened at the police station. He was right there with me."

Emotionally exhausted from another rollercoaster of a day, I headed up to my room to lie down for a bit. I kicked off my boots and threw my jacket on the couch. Bella was on her way over and I knew that she'd want me to talk, but I wasn't sure if I was up for more talking. I was all talked out. Grabbing my little black notebook and trusty pen, I sat on my bed with my back against the wall. I opened the thin notebook and flipped through its tiny pocket-size pages, reading my previous entries. Twirling the pen in my fingers, I contemplated my next entries. Content with what I needed to do in my future, I immediately took note of it.

_Say good-bye to Liz_

_Learn to love Carlisle and Esme_

When I placed the notebook back down on my nightstand, I was startled to realize something. I shifted out of my spot and to the edge and opened the drawer. Sifting through the few contents, I didn't find the item I was looking for. I searched in the bottom drawer and it wasn't there either. Even though it felt like eons ago, I thought back to earlier today before I left the house with Carlisle. I had placed the picture of Peter, Liz, and myself on my nightstand, not in it. I was sure of that.

And now it was missing.

The picture of Carlisle and me was on my nightstand by the lamp. The bags of Christmas presents in the corner still remained in the same spot and appeared to be undisturbed. The picture of Alice and me at the Snow Ball dance was sitting on my dresser as was the one of Carlisle, Emmett, Jasper, Uncle Tony, and me from Thanksgiving. A pile of folded laundry was sitting lopsided at the foot of my bed.

Esme had been in my room!

I hurried to my closet and tore the door open. If I had been strong like Emmett, I was sure that I would have ripped the sliding door completely off the track. The Rubbermaid container was still inside, but I was unsure if it had been moved or not. I hadn't paid that much attention its exact location in my closet.

Dragging it out into the middle of the room, I pried the lid off and went through the few remaining contents inside. There was much less then I had expected to find. I had taken the clothes out and hung them in my closet. Peter's pocket watch and the envelope with three hundred dollars were missing. The old blue knitted blanket that Liz had made for me years ago that was falling apart was gone from the container. I hurried over to the bags of Christmas presents and found none of them missing. When my eyes landed on my backpack, my stomach twisted in knots. Opening it, I expected to find the worse but surprisingly didn't. The old photo albums and the baby book I had _intended_ to give to Esme for Christmas were still there.

Blind with rage, I ran out of my room and flew down the stairs. "Esme!" I checked the kitchen and living room first, but she wasn't anywhere to be found. I searched downstairs and found her in front of the washing machine, her hands braced against it, her back to the door.

"Esme!" I screamed. "Why'd you do it? Damn it, where are my things?"

She turned around slowly and calmly, a stark contrast to how I was feeling at the moment. "You don't need those reminders." Her voice was a bit uneven, but not shaky.

"Those are _my_ things!" I screamed. "You had no right to take them! I want them back!"

"Edward, that is your past and you need to move on," she tried to explain. "You'll never move on-"

"Fuck that! You don't get to say how I move on with my life!" I heard a movement somewhere behind me and turned to see Emmett in the door way, a look of total shock written all over his face. I hurried to the door and somehow found the strength to push him clear into the hallway before slamming and locking the door behind me.

"Edward! Open up!" Emmett banged on the door. "Open up and stop yelling!"

I yelled in the direction of the door at Emmett. "Go away!" Then I turned around to face Esme. I knew she was trying to keep her composure, but I could tell she was starting to crack. Emmett was still banging loudly at the door while yelling for Carlisle. It sounded as if he was barreling into the door with his shoulder in a vain attempt to open it. "I don't want to forget who I am."

Esme continued to stand I front of the washer, nervously wringing her hands together. "Edward, honey-"

"Don't honey me, you bitch!" One of Esme's hands flew over her mouth in horror. For a brief instant, I felt a bit of smug satisfaction knowing that I had hurt her like she had hurt me. Though she didn't know it, I didn't like saying those words anymore than she liked hearing them. "Just because I'm here living under your roof doesn't mean you get to go through my things! Those things are a part of me!"

"You need to forget about those things!" she yelled at me, her voice completely cracking on each word. "They are a part of your past which should have never existed," she explained. She was blinking rapidly, trying to keep her tears at bay, but it wasn't quite working. The tears had started to fall down her cheeks in rapid succession. "You never belonged with them, damn it!"

"I can't help it! You don't understand how _hard_ this is for me too," I said as I heard the jiggling of keys at the door. "I need to cope however I can, not how you want me to."

"Edward, calm down." Carlisle's voice was behind me. I turned to see him a few feet away from me with Emmett behind him blocking the only escape route out. Carlisle took another tentative step forward and Emmett appeared as if he was going to pounce on me at any second. Sometime during my confrontation with Esme, Bella must have arrived at the house. Her face peeked through an area between the door frame and Emmett's arm. I was probably scaring her with my anger. "What is going on here?"

I pointed at Esme while keeping my gaze on Carlisle. "She took my things! She had no right! I want them back!"

"Edward, you shouldn't have them!" Esme cried. "You need to forget-"

"I can't just forget! I don't have a switch, damn it!" I screamed again. "I can't fucking turn on and off my feelings! Damn it, bitch, give me back my things!"

"I threw them out!" The words sputtered out as she stood there with her hand over her heart.

There's an old saying about being so mad that you see red. I never knew what the fuck that meant until then. I felt like a charging bull as I rushed toward Esme in anger. Carlisle stopped me before I reached Esme, his arms wrapped around my waist, pulling me away from her. My legs were kicking and my arms were flailing in disgust. I vaguely recalled Carlisle calling on Emmett for help, but he must have because Emmett briefly had me pinned to the ground before I somehow managed to fight my way out of his arms, flew past Bella in the hallway, and ran upstairs to my room, slamming the door behind me.

I kicked the poor, innocent Rubbermaid container, and it went flying against the closet door. I wanted to break or hit something so I could remove all the pent up frustration within me. Instead, I had to settle for flopping down on my bed, staring at the ceiling, and letting tears stain my face again as I cried hysterically. _I was so fucking tired of crying._ I wished I had run downstairs to the basement where I could've taken my anger out against the punching bag.

How could Esme do that to me? She had no right to remove anything from my room! Yes, Carlisle and Esme owned this house, but this was my room. It was supposed to be my sanctuary and safe haven. She totally ruined that by taking items that didn't belong to her. And now the last good picture of me with Peter and Liz was forever lost. I knew Liz had leftovers of the picture, but where would they be? Even if the Masen house wasn't totally packed up yet, I probably wouldn't be able to talk Charlie into letting me back into it again.

I had the overwhelming urge to remember my past while moving on with my future…and Esme didn't understand that. I didn't want to forget because my past made me who I was. I wasn't a bad person, so why should I forget? What the hell was wrong with the person that I currently was?

I tried to calm down so that my heartbeat would return to normal, but it wasn't working. I was still so damn angry. Bella probably thought I was a nutcase. Carlisle and Esme were probably going to ship me off to a boys home or something. I'd be lucky if Emmett ever talked to me again. I was grateful that Alice, Jasper, and Rose were off somewhere and at least they had missed witnessing my tirade first hand.

Thirsty from all the screaming, I went into the bathroom and had a drink of water from the tap. I hoped that Carlisle realized that I hadn't meant to go after Esme and attack her. As angry as I was with her, I could never hit her. I guess it was just an instinctive move to get into her face.

When I walked back into my bedroom, I knew what I had to do. I grabbed my backpack and shoved the photo albums and baby book into one of the shopping bags. I went to the dresser, grabbed a few sets of clothes, and shoved them into my backpack. Another quick visit to the bathroom and I was throwing my toothbrush, toothpaste, deodorant, and shampoo into my bag. Turning off my phone, I shoved my feet back into my boots and pulled on my jacket.

I found the mid-size movable window panel that had been placed there like an emergency exit and quietly moved it out of the way. Climbing into the tree outside of my room, I was doing the one thing that Peter Masen never even realized he had taught me—I was going to run.

* * *

**A/N:** Oh noes! He's being totally irrational with the running away bit, right? But that's what happens when you're totally pissed off. Edward believes he lost the last link he had to Peter and Liz because of Esme.


	30. RunAway

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Twilight. However, I do own an autographed 8x10 photo of myself with Peter Facinelli in which I wrapped my arms around him. I had a pair of steel balls that day as I tried not to throw up.

**A/N:** Thanks so much for all the reviews on the last chapter. Y'all continue to amaze me. I was so busy trying to get this chapter done that I had no time to reply to any of the reviews. Not only were there a lot of reviews, but many were long and well thought out to boot. I was fully expecting the Haterade to be placed on me and Edward, but instead, ya'll wanna knife Esme.

Chapter song is _Runaway_ by Linkin Park. Carlisle isn't the only person around here that likes Linkin Park.

I've been updating the LegacyFF Twitter a lot as I write. I'll just pick something that sounds good and send it off. I was "killing" like, five readers the other day, when I was posting teasers for this chapter. Can I get charged for murder?

**PLEASE READ:** This chapter does contain some smut. However, I royally suck at smut so it's not the hardcore stuff most readers are used to. I just can't bring myself to write that at all. I think this fits my version of Edward and Bella better anyway.

* * *

**Chapter 30: RunAway**

_I wanna run away  
Never say goodbye  
I wanna know the truth  
Instead of wondering why  
I wanna know the answers  
No more lies  
I wanna shut the door  
And open up my mind_

I immediately knew that to a certain degree I was acting irrationally. And stupid. I couldn't forget the massive stupidity I was suffering from. I just… had to get away and clear my head. I couldn't do that in that house with everything going on. The first sign of my utter stupidity and lack of follow through on my plan to run away was when I landed on the ground and was instantly caught by Emmett and Bella, who were in the back room. Not the greatest first step in making a grand get away.

Emmett silently looked around the room, I assumed to see if anyone else heard me, before going to the sliding glass door. He opened it slowly and walked toward my direction, holding what looked like the same frozen bag of peas I had used on my hands the other night over his right eye.

"Where the hell do you think you're going?" he whispered as he removed the frozen peas from his eye. I noticed that it was black and blue.

I squinted to try to get a better look. "Aw, shit, did I do that to you?"

"Yeah, you kicked me in the face, dumbass," he said sourly. "That was some adrenaline rush you had there, bro."

"I'm sorry, Emmett, I didn't mean to kick you in the face." I had never wanted to hurt him. Hell, the thought that I could even possibly physically hurt Emmett had never even crossed my mind. He always came across as indestructible, even though I knew that really wasn't the case.

"Edward, you didn't answer him, where the hell do you think you're going?" Bella asked, standing beside Emmett. I didn't want to admit it to myself, but I thought she looked a bit timid about approaching me. After all, she didn't run over to me but was still standing next to Emmett. Not a very good sign.

"Honestly? I don't have the slightest clue," I confessed. "All I know is that I can't stay here."

"What the hell am I gonna do with you?" Emmett sighed.

"Damned if I know."

"Edward, honey, running away isn't going to help," Bella said. "It's only going to make things worse."

"I don't know what else to do," I said. "She took _my_ things and threw them out. She had no right. It's not up to Esme if I get to keep a piece of my past to help me cope with all this shit that's been heaped on me!"

Emmett shushed me. "You're getting too loud, not to mention pissed off. I don't need another black eye from trying to restrain you again."

"I'm sorry about your eye, I really am, man." I apologized again. "I didn't do it on purpose."

"I know you didn't do it on purpose. Now, shut it for a minute and let me think." I raised an eyebrow at him, and under normal circumstances I would have made a snarky comment. He knew it, too. "Shut it!"

"Bella, why don't you go back inside? It's cold out and you don't have your jacket," I said. "You must be freezing."

"Nuh uh, I want to know what's going on," she said through her chattering teeth. Emmett put his arm around her, but that wasn't going to help much considering he didn't have a jacket either. "I don't want to be left out of the loop."

"Bella, go inside." Emmett handed her the bag of frozen peas. "Put these back in the freezer. I have no idea what to do with Edward yet. I have to talk to him about something else for a minute."

"Do you promise?" Bella asked while taking the impromptu ice pack from Emmett.

"Yes, now, please, go inside," he said.

"Okay." Bella pouted. "If you're lying to me, so help me God, I will kick you in your nads so hard that you will have to have them surgically removed from like, your lungs."

"I'd rather avoid that." Emmett placed both hands over his groin. "Get your pretty little ass inside."

Her eyes darted to me quickly before she turned and left, marching back to the house a tad bit disgusted. As soon as Bella was inside, Emmett faced me and walked in my direction. And he looked pissed. Very, very, very, very pissed. Uh oh. I had a very bad feeling that I was about to be on the end of a serious ass kicking. Taking a few steps back, I stumbled over… um, I think abso-fuckin-lutley nothing.

Emmett reached down and dragged me to my feet by my jacket collar and then took a few steps further into the woods. Then he surprised the fuck out of me by doing the one thing I never thought he'd do to anyone. He slapped me right across the face with an opened palm.

"Damn, Emmett!"

"Shut the fuck up, Edward!" he said, and I clammed up because he looked like Bruce Banner right before he morphed into the Hulk. "One, you do _not_ call her a bitch. She is our _mother_. She gave birth to us and she deserves some respect. Two, you should be very glad that Bella was there. If it wasn't for her, I would have knocked you out for going after Mom. You do _not_ hit women, especially our mother!"

"Emmett, swear to God, I wasn't going to hit Esme!" I struggled to get him to release me. "Lemme go, damn it." He released me from his grasp but didn't move. "Contrary to popular belief, I am not stupid. I wasn't going to hit Esme. I was just going to get in her face. I'm sorry if it looked like something else."

"I'm sorry I slapped you," he said, taking a step back. "Are you okay?"

"I'll be fine." I rubbed my cheek. "You just surprised the hell out of me."

"I have only done something like that one other time in my life. When I was thirteen I broke Damien Riglitori's nose in three places and bruised one of his ribs. Damien didn't know what the word 'no' meant. Just because I'm a big guy doesn't mean I want to go around beating people up. So, basically, man, don't you dare do something like that again," he said, staring at me seriously. "Next time you'll be spitting out teeth because it won't be a little slap. I don't take kindly to people messin' with my loved ones or women. Now, out in the woods, there's a tree house-"

"I know where it is. I found it once," I admitted. "What about it?"

"Go out to it and wait," he said. "I'll get you when I figure something out. I hope it doesn't take too long."

"Carlisle and Esme aren't really going to be the ones to climb up the steps and find me are they?" I didn't think Emmett would do that, but I felt the need to double check.

"No, dumbass."

"Okay, I'll be waiting for you," I said. "Don't forget about me either!"

"Throbbing pain in my eye!" he said, pointing to the bruise. "I can't forget about you right about now."

Sighing, I ran my hand through my hair. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry! How many times do I have to say it?"

"I'll let you know," he said with a grin. "Now, get your ass in gear and go. See ya soon."

"See ya soon." I nodded, turned, and headed off in the direction of the tree house. It was a good thing that I had brought my cell phone along. I had to turn it on and use it to help guide my way in the rapidly darkening dusk. Finding the tree house, I carefully climbed the crooked wooden stairs and made my way inside. Of course, it wasn't any warmer inside of the sucker than it was outside. I hoped Emmett wouldn't take too long figuring out a plan of action.

While I waited, I contemplated my actions. Going back wasn't an option. Not at this point. I recalled the scene between Esme and me over and over in my head, trying to figure out how it could have gone down differently. Unfortunately, I never saw a better solution. It ended the same way each time—both of us pissed off and angry at one another because of what we did. I needed some time away, whether either one of them approved of it or not.

Hearing a noise below me and thinking it was Emmett, I went to the trap door and opened it up. "Jasper?"

"Emmett sends his apologies," he said, halfway up the steps. "He told me what happened because he needed my help. Get your ass down here now."

I grabbed my backpack and threw it to Jasper before climbing down. "Did Emmett figure something out?" I asked cautiously.

Jasper shrugged and led me through the woods. "I think so. I don't know everything actually. I only know my part in this."

"Okay, what are we doing?" I could barely see the house from where we were. Jasper was keeping us hidden in the safety of the trees while carefully making our way over to the driveway.

"Carlisle and Esme are in their bedroom because Esme is upset. Bella is going to leave and I'm going to follow her because she heard a weird noise from the engine on the way over," he said.

"Did she really?"

"Nope," he replied. "I'm close enough to the tree line so you can sneak in my car. Emmett already left under the pretense that someone called and needed help plowing their driveway, but he's on the way over to Bella's. After that, the only thing I know is that you're taking my car. Be careful with it. I bought it with my _own_ money from when I worked at the Thriftway almost two years ago."

"Don't worry, I'll be careful with your car."

Jasper left the security of the woods first while I waited. Bella climbed into her truck, Jasper opened the driver's side door to his most awesome Mustang, pushed the seat toward the steering wheel, and motioned for me to go forward. I hurried over to him and slid into the back seat. "Stay down!" he whispered.

Once we were far enough down the long ass driveway, Jasper told me I could sit up. "I sure as hell hope Emmett knows what he's doing," he muttered.

"Me too."

As we approached Bella's, I easily spotted Emmett's Jeep in the driveway. Jasper pulled up, and we hopped out of his car. Emmett was walking toward us with a large red plastic-looking fuel container from the garage. He shoved it into the back of the Jeep where I noticed it had a twin. "You're going to need both of them," he informed me.

Hearing a door slam, I turned to see Bella walking toward us from the porch with a duffel bag slung over her arm. "Oh, no, you're staying here. I'm not dragging you into this."

"I'm going with you," she said with determination. "And there's nothing you can do to stop me."

"Bella, if Charlie finds out you're alone with me he's going to come after us," I said. "He's going to shoot at me first and ask questions when my body is cold and dead."

"He's going to think I'm at your house because it's Christmas break and I'm bored being home by myself," she said, her chin jutted out I defiance. "So there." Then she had the nerve to stick her tongue out at me. If I had been in a better mood, I would've started going off on a tangent about what wonderful things her tongue has done to me and what it could do, but there were more important matters at hand. I could think about her tongue later.

"Forget about my body being cold and dead. He won't ask questions until it's a year later and I'm buried six feet under," I moaned. "I repeat—he's going to _kill_ me."

"Stop whining like a little girl," Bella said, which generated laughter from Emmett and Jasper. "I'm going with you." With the final word, she threw her duffel bag up into the Jeep.

I faced Emmett. "Bury me on top of the hill behind Bella's house so I can haunt Charlie about my death."

"Will do," he said while trying not to laugh. "Jasper, I hate to drag you deeper into this, but I don't see another way. The story is that you followed Bella home, Edward grabbed your keys sometime after you got back, and then drove to Bella's and ran off. I have to bring you along. I can't think of another way around it. If you stay here, Charlie might come back, and how are we going to explain that? Nothing else will work, I'm sorry, Jazz."

"Just a fair warning in case Carlisle and Esme find out about my part in this," Jasper pointed at Emmett and then at me. "If I'm forced to move back home, I will be bitching to you about my parents every day until I am able to leave."

"Fair enough," Emmett said. "I know I'll be hearing from Rose, too."

"Understood, Jazz." I gave him a small salute.

Emmett thought it was a better idea if Jasper went with him while I drove Bella and me. I guess it was to help keep up the pretenses of our little plan. Emmett stopped at a gas station while I went just past it and waited in the shadows. When he was through filling up the gas containers, I continued following him on the 101 out of town. It then clicked where he was taking me—up to the cabin and our mountain. I had to admit it, Emmett really outdid himself.

When we reached the entrance, I pulled over on the opposite side of the road and waited. It had snowed, so both Emmett and Jasper needed to move the gate out of the way before Emmett could position the Jeep so he could start to plow. Once he had gotten far enough up the hill, I followed behind and made sure to leave enough space between us. When we reached the top of the mountain and the cabin, Emmett emptied one of the fuel containers into the generator and got it started.

"Okay, I'm going to give you some information here, so you need to listen," he said in a stern voice. "I don't want find you frozen to death up here, so listen good. These fuel containers hold fourteen gallons of gas. The generator however has a fifteen gallon tank. I don't know how I remember this, but the fuel consumption on this baby is one point six seven an hour. You're a smart boy. Do the math and figure it the fuck out."

"I'll probably need to fill it up in the early morning, so I'll go down to Port Angeles and refill the containers," I said. "Do you have cash on you?"

Emmett reached into his back pocket and retrieved his wallet. "Unless you want to get caught, don't use your credit card because it's the first thing they'd check. It's the same thing deal with your phone. You should keep it off actually because it can probably be traced with the GPS in it. Turn it on, check for a signal and messages, do what you gotta do, and turn it off again." He handed me a wad of twenty-dollar bills. "Good thing I grabbed money before leaving. I don't even know with our new phones if you'd have a signal up here if you needed to get in touch with someone. If something happens, you might have to go down to the bottom of the mountain, remember, like when we were up here?"

"I remember."

"Bella brought some, what do you call it, non-perishable food." Emmett glanced in Jasper's direction, and he headed toward the door and then headed outside. "When we stopped at the gas station we got a few things for you too. It's cold out, but don't put anything outside because of the animals. There are containers in the cabinet, so take some snow and put the milk and sandwiches on it until the fridge gets cold."

"Great idea."

Jasper walked in with the bag of goodies that Emmett had bought for us, and he and Bella went into the kitchen to give us a moment.

"Listen, I'll try to get up here tomorrow to check on you, but it all depends on what's going on at the house. Once they realize that you're gone, I'm not sure if I'll be able to get away. Be careful in Jazz's car going up and down the mountain, especially if bad weather hits," Emmett bit his lip. "Hell, if bad weather hits, just come the fuck home."

"I'll just send Bella home."

"Don't be a dipshit," Emmett growled at me. "It's the twenty-second. In case you forgot, Christmas Eve is the twenty-fourth. I know Mom was looking forward to your first Christmas with us. Calm the fuck down, figure out what you want to say to Mom, and get your ass down off this mountain and back home where you belong."

"It's not that easy."

"The fuck it is. Don't make me slap you again." Bella's head whipped around to face us from the kitchen, and Emmett jabbed a finger in my chest. "You both did wrong. I know that. Mom shouldn't have touched your stuff, but you shouldn't have gone off on her like a fuckin' lunatic. In the end remember we're family, and that's what's really important."

"I'll think about what you said." I had to first get past the fact that my brother could really be an intimidating bastard when he needed to be.

Emmett unzipped his jacket and reached inside to an interior pocket. Pulling out a piece of paper and pen, he handed them to me. "Here, write something that will explain your disappearance. Nothing too long I imagine because that'd sound too thought out and planned."

He was right. I couldn't write a letter because that would make it sound like I had this planned out, which I didn't. This was an irrational and in the moment decision. I sat down on the couch for a moment, used the coffee table to write on, and then gave the paper and pen back to Emmett.

"I'll be back soon. I'm sorry." He read the note. "I think it's perfect."

"I'm glad you approve."

"Me and Jazz should get going." At the mention of his name, Jasper and Bella flooded out of the kitchen and into the living room. Jasper hugged Bella by the door and waited there while Bella crossed the room and stood by my side. "You two behave, huh?"

I rolled my eyes at him. "Yeah, okay, Dad."

"I mean what I said." Emmett's tone turned serious. "Get your ass back to us where you belong. Bella, talk some sense into him, huh?"

"I'll most certainly try to." She literally jumped into his arms for one last hug.

"Bro?" Emmett stood with one arm outstretched in my direction. I stepped forward and his arm enclosed me against him. "I'm sorry about before."

"Yeah, I'm sorry too." We patted each other on the back, and he released me.

"I am going to fucking throw up from all the love in this room," Jasper stated morbidly. "Em, you haven't told me how you're going to sneak me back into the house!"

Emmett turned us to face Jasper's direction and Bella stood at Emmett's other side. "You're going to walk right in the front door with me. Don't worry about it." Emmett smiled and glanced down at me. "You see what you and I just did there? Yeah, it can be that easy with Esme too. It may be a little more nerve wracking, but the same damn type of deal."

Emmett and Jasper left, but not before we heard some hoots and hollers from outside. I guessed they probably got into a mini snowball fight on the short walk back to the Jeep.

"We can leave right now, Edward," Bella said. "We can follow them right down off this mountain, and you can go and make everything right with Esme."

"I…I can't right now." I stared at the floor before taking her hand in mine. "I'm going to get a container to put some snow in so we can keep the stuff cold." I reached over and kissed her cheek before escaping to the kitchen.

When I returned from outside, Bella was wrapped in a blanket on the couch reading a book. I reached for my backpack, checked the front pocket, and was happy to find that I had indeed left _The Odyssey_ in the small space. I stretched out along the couch and placed my head in her lap. One of Bella's hands lazily played with my hair as we both escaped into the imaginary land of our books.

I read for about an hour before I felt the need to stop. Closing the book, I placed it on the coffee table in front of us. I turned to my side, my head still in Bella's lap, and encircled her waist in my arms. Bella placed her book on the table beside her and shifted out of her spot. Worried that she was getting up to leave, I attempted to sit up, but she pushed me back down against the couch and lay down next to me. "Emmett told us to behave."

"Since when have you started to listen to Emmett one-hundred percent of the time?" With a smile, her lips landed against mine. As our breathing got heavier, so did the make-out session before Bella pulled away from me.

"Bella," I groaned into her neck. "Once again, you're torturing me."

She pushed me away, stood up, and for a few seconds, I thought I did something wrong until she crooked her finger at me devilishly. There was no doubt in my mind that Bella occasionally had a pair of cute devil horns holding up a halo. "The couch is too small," she said with a smile. "I'm going to change. Why don't you put the stuff in the fridge and empty the container of the snow?"

"Okay, don't take too long."

"I won't. Go to the second bedroom on the left," she instructed me. "I'll see you in a few."

My little side trip to the kitchen took no time at all. The bedroom had an attached bathroom, so I waited for Bella because I didn't know where the other bathrooms were, but mostly I wanted to see her walk toward me while I lingered near the bed. I anxiously waited until Bella came out of the bathroom. Even though we had already kissed, I felt self conscious and had the urge to brush my teeth before my lips met hers again. Opening the bathroom door, Bella advanced toward me wearing a black pair of what she called boy shorts and a matching tank top. Hell, I didn't need lingerie—skimpy clothes did it for me just fine.

I hurried up in the bathroom and tried like hell not to appear overly eager as I entered the bedroom. When I opened the bathroom door I was happy to see Bella lying in the middle of the bed, the blankets pulled up to her waist. She was on her side facing me and looking sexy as hell. I shut the door and headed over to her—trying not to skip like a sissified boy—and sat on the edge of the bed.

"What are you waiting for?" she asked, moving the covers aside. "Get in here and keep me warm."

Aw, damn, I turned into that huge pile of horny goo again at her suggestion. Climbing into bed next to her, Bella slid closer to me and one arm inched its way around my back. "Remember, if you get uncomfortable you need to tell me, okay?"

"Trust me, I remember."

Soon enough, we were back to the point where we had left off on the couch. And then we went further. I didn't want to push, but my hormones were on overdrive as I moved the material of her tank top aside so my fingers could get underneath it and touch her bare skin. Not wanting to scare Bella off, I moved slowly until my hand was to the middle of her back and then I moved it to her side. As the promised land of Bella's wonderful but still hidden boobs waited for me, Bella moaned my name and arched her back as my lips explored her neck.

Tits are wonderful things, I thought to myself. Not only can they feed and nourish a child, but a certain pair makes me hard as a rock. Then again, I was a typical seventeen-year-old horny male. Lots of things made me hard as a rock. I just appreciated certain stimuli more than others.

"Can you turn off the light?"

"Would that make you more comfortable?" I asked, trying not to frown. I most certainly wanted to see anything Bella was willing to show me, but if it made her uncomfortable, I was worried she'd have another nightmare.

Burying her face in my neck, Bella silently nodded her head. "Yes, I'm sorry. I'm very self conscious."

I rolled slightly, found the switch for the lamp, and turned it off before shifting back into position. Bella's hands were pressed against my chest, her head tucked under my chin. "Love, you don't have anything to be self conscious about."

It seemed like Bella likes to attack me with her mouth. Quite frankly, she could attack me with her mouth as frequently as she wanted because I enjoyed it more than she'd ever know. I moved my hand back into its previous position and started the slow descent toward the Promised Land of ta-tas.

"Jesus, Edward, just touch the girls already and stop trying to be so sly about it!" Bella giggled and pushed herself away from me. "Stay there." I heard her and the sheets moving about, but I couldn't see what the hell she was doing before she returned to my arms.

Oh, shit.

Oh, damn.

Oh, fuck.

She took off her tank top. Bare Breasted Bella was against my chest. Deep inside, I was squeeing like a teenage girl at her first boy band concert. Don't ask me how I knew about squeeing teenage girls at a boy band concert. Don't even ask me how the hell I know what the fuck squeeing was.

"Oh, shit."

"Did I do something wrong?" Her voice was laced with panic.

"No, no, not at all." I tried to reassure her so that, well, she'd be willing to take her top off again in the future. "Much appreciated move on your part, but totally not expected."

"I want to feel you against me." Her voice was low, deep, and sexy as all hell.

I reached out toward the sound of her voice and managed to cup her cheek in my palm without poking her in the eye. Another argument for leaving the lights on. I'd never be able to explain how I blinded Bella while fumbling around for her when we were fooling around in the dark.

My hands roamed happily along Bella's beautiful breasts. I honestly had no clue if I was doing anything correctly, but she was making some wonderful, never before heard noises. I mean, moaning that got me harder than I was already. Total turn on time. I dared to wander from her neck and went lower, my lips brushing against the tops of her breasts. "Can I?" I asked before continuing, hoping it didn't sound as if I was begging. The image of Oliver Twist pitifully begging for more porridge flashed across in my mind. What the hell was wrong with me? I had my half-naked girlfriend in bed with me, my lips mere inches away from her nipples, and I was thinking of Oliver Twist? What the fuck?

"Yes." she said, slightly breathless. My fingers were already on her nipples when my lips joined them. One set of fingers were tweaking, pinching, and pulling while my mouth sucked. "Not so hard," Bella pleaded with a slight groan.

I removed my lips for a few seconds. "I'm sorry," I said and then tried my ministrations again with less pressure. "Is that better?" Glancing up at her, I hoped to be able to see a smile of approval, but it was too damn dark.

"Yes, much."

I continued to play with the twins, giving lefty and righty equal attention. In the meantime, Bella's hands were all over me, in my hair to down my back as far as she could reach, clawing at my skin and hair. Her hips bucked up against me, rubbing against my already hardened dick. It was a slow, sweet torture, but so worth in the end. At least, I hoped it would be. I shifted slightly to the side, hoping to relieve some pressure but found it really didn't help. With my mouth playing with lefty, I realized my right had a mind of its own because it was traveling down Bella's stomach and toward the waist band of her shorts. If her tits were the Promised Land, then what was the area waiting for me between her legs? Heaven? Mmm, that nickname would suffice.

One of Bella's hands covered mine, urging it lower toward Heaven. _I have been granted approval to enter the gates of Heaven!_ My lips left the Promised Land and sought Bella's. Her fingers dug into my back as I slowly inserted one finger into Heaven. She rubbed against my body, eliciting a moan from deep within me. I continued to move one finger in and out of her before adding a second and tried to find her clit with my thumb. Sadly, I didn't think my effort was working. I knew for a fact it wasn't when I felt Bella's hand on mine, guiding my thumb to where it needed to be.

Jesus, I was screwing up so bad, but I was grateful that she had enough courage to show me what made her feel good. "Sorry, love."

"Don't, uh, worry, oh yes, mmm, this is new, oh, for….both of us. Oh, Edward!" Her hips bucked up as my fingers sunk into her and my thumb moved over her clit. "Go faster, please. Mmm, feels good."

I somehow made her come, or at least she got to the point where she was satisfied enough—I wasn't really sure to be honest. She told me to stop and slapped my hand away from Heaven saying something about that if I didn't stop, I'd have to start another round on her. Was that supposed to have been a threat? If so, it was a very empty one.

With her hands planted firmly on my shoulders, Bella pushed against me, flipping me over onto my back and straddling my legs. Oooh, girlfriend on top. I liked. I mean, really liked. While she alternated sucking on my earlobe and neck, her hips gyrated against me, stroking my dick through my boxers. Sometime during our grinding, my hands had slipped into the back of her shorts, latched onto her ass, and helped press her into me even more. Heaven was torturing me.

"Oh, Bella, you need to stop," I said through moans of pleasure. "I can't take it anymore."

I was afraid that I had made her think she had done something wrong when she moved off me and placed her body against my side, one of her legs still resting between mine. I almost gasped out loud when I felt her hand on my dick, rubbing me through my boxers. "God, Bella." I groaned. She was sucking on my bottom lip when her hand slipped into my boxers and squeezed.

I was really so fucking lucky I didn't blow my load right then and there, although, it was sad to say that I didn't last much longer. She wrapped her hand around me and started moving, but something wasn't… right, I guess. Taking my cue from her, I placed my hand over hers, had her grip me just a tad bit tighter, and helped her set the correct pace until she was well on her way to making me come. Oh, and come I did.

"Well, that's kind of nasty."

I tried not to laugh but failed miserably. "Yeah, um body fluids, huh?"

"You are something else," she giggled and placed a kiss on my lips. "I'm going to clean up real quick. Be right back."

I could only hear her move off the bed and head toward the bathroom in the pitch black room. There was a soft thud quickly followed by the sound of Bella's voice. "Ouch!"

"You okay?"

"Found the bathroom door."

I tried not to laugh at her clumsiness. It might get me temporarily banned from the Promised Land or Heaven. I so did not want that to happen now that I had had such a pleasurable first visit. "We do have something called electricity, you know."

"No!" she protested. "I don't have my top on."

"And your point is?" I asked. "I'd love to see the girls fully exposed."

"I'm not quite ready for that yet, okay?"

There was a slight defensive tone to her voice, so I dropped the subject. "Okay, I'll wait for you."

It only took her a minute or two before she returned to bed. In that time, I realized that I had cum on my stomach and would need to clean up too. Bella found way back to the bed and I headed to the bathroom, still hanging out of my boxer briefs. I cleaned up, tucked myself back inside my underwear, and made my way back to the bed, but not before going too far to the left and nearly killing myself on the night stand. I hoped Bella would get over to her self conscious thing real quick. I didn't want to get a concussion walking around in the dark because of her.

I climbed back into bed and searched the dark for Bella. She was lying on her back, so I inched my way toward her and settled in next to her side with my head resting between her breasts. "Are you okay?" I asked as her hand brushed through my hair.

"Mmm mmm," she sighed. "You?"

"Very good, thanks to you." I should've shut up right then, but I continued as my fingers searched for her free hand. Taking it in mine, I gently squeezed it. "I'm sorry about screwing up. I'm new to all of this. I've never had a girlfriend before," I admitted sheepishly.

"If you didn't notice, I wasn't totally sure of what I was doing either," she said. "This is new territory for me, too."

Propping myself on one elbow, I leaned over her for a kiss before settling back down between her breasts. We didn't talk after that. I lay there with my eyes closed, enjoying the feeling of Bella running her fingers through my hair. I was almost asleep when I heard my name being called. At first I thought it was a dream, so I didn't answer.

"Edward?" No, I wasn't dreaming. It was Bella's voice I heard. Before I had a chance to say anything, she continued. "I love you, Edward."

I had been so fucked up emotionally lately that Bella's confession scared the hell out of me. I couldn't open my mouth to speak, to tell her how I felt too, because I was afraid. Afraid of what, I didn't know for sure. Maybe that she'd change her mind, decide she was wrong, that I wasn't worthy of her, and take her words back. I wasn't able to deal with that right then at that time.

I continued to pretend that I was asleep, and, soon enough, the movement of Bella's fingers in my hair stopped. She had drifted off, and I restrained myself from turning on the light to watch her sleep.

I didn't know how other people did it. For most of my life, only two people had loved me. Now, I had many more and one of them, Bella, wasn't a family relation that exacted love no matter what. Somehow, the girl who I was in the same bed with had feelings for me before it was revealed that I was really a Cullen. She hadn't cared that I had been poor. Maybe that's what really scared me. Having someone in my life love me who wasn't a family connection. Bella loving me was like taking an elective course in school—it wasn't required, but it was extra credit. Bella chose me as her elective… to love me when she didn't have to.

The thing was, I had chosen her too. She was my elective… she had turned into someone I could count on. Someone that, yes, I loved. Yes, I loved her. Even though she was now asleep, I was too scared to open my mouth and say anything. Bella had the courage to speak up, even if she thought I was sleeping, but I clammed up. Go me.

Now I had to figure out how to find the courage to tell Bella that I loved her too.

* * *

**A/N:** Yes? No? What do you think?

I thought I'd address this since there's been a rash of fics being pulled for one reason or another. My current plan is this: Complete _Legacy_ as it was intended. Then I am seriously considering editing, changing names and locations and maybe trying for publication. I've always thought that my idea for _Legacy_ was better then my writing. Since I'm not sure that it'd ever get picked, I'm not going to pull something that's um, well, maybe 2/3 done and leave you hanging. I believe I will have to pull it off the site to get it copyrighted, but that won't happen until it's done and reedited anyway. I don't know anything about publishing, but I imagine it could take quite a bit of time to get something published. I can't make y'all wait a year or two (or longer?) to find out what happens. Hell, I couldn't take the hate mail. Just buy the sucker if ever lands in a book store near you. Pretty please?


	31. Therapy

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Twilight.

**A/N:** Thanks for all the support after the end of the last chapter. It means a lot.

I have to work on the next two chapters together because they're "companion pieces" and I have to make sure they're not redundant, so it might take a few extra days before you see them. I'm just glad my brain is cranking out a chapter a week again.

* * *

**Chapter 31: Therapy**

With my head planted firmly in the valley between Bella's beautiful breasts, I drifted off to sleep. I knew I dreamed of something that disturbed me, but when I woke up in the middle of the night, I couldn't remember what it was. Usually I'd be annoyed at not being able to remember a dream but not this time. Maybe I was better off for the time being. Very carefully, I removed myself from Bella's sleeping form and sat up. What better time to check the gas in the generator than… shit, what time was it anyway? There was no alarm clock on the nightstand, so I fumbled in the dark for the button that lit up my watch. The watch was a piece of crap and barely lit up enough so I could tell that it was three in the morning.

I stifled a yawn, pulled on my clothes, and left the confines of the bedroom to fill up the generator. The fuel level was low, so I had woken up just in time. I emptied the other container into the generator, placed them by the door for the morning, and headed back inside. As I entered the bedroom I heard noises and knew they were from Bella. Making my way over to the bed, I stripped back down to my underwear and sat down. It was then I knew she was still sleeping and having another nightmare. I felt for the covers and pulled them up well past her chest before I attempted to wake her. Turning on the bedside lamp, I took a quick peek and saw that the covers had covered her sufficiently (damn it), but she was talking and kicking slightly in her sleep.

I placed a palm against one of her cheeks. "Bella, wake up, love. Bella, it's just a nightmare, you're okay."

The gentle approach wasn't working, so I had to shake her a bit before her eyes shot open. "What is it?" She appeared to be confused, her eyes quickly finding the blanket covering her body with the light of the lamp.

I turned off the light and lay back down next to her. "You were having a nightmare," I said, gathering her in my arms. She relaxed into me, and her breathing calmed back down to normal.

"I'm sorry."

"You don't have to apologize." I planted a kiss on her forehead. "Maybe we shouldn't have gone as far as we did. I'm sorry if I pushed you."

"You didn't push me." I felt her relax more against me, and her arm snaked around to my back. "I want… I want to be with you some day so I need to work through this. You didn't do anything wrong."

Did she just say she wanted to be with me someday? Like, as in sex? I tried not to get a boner at the thought of burying my dick into Bella's bit of Heaven. I moved the hair at her neck out of the way and placed my lips against her collar bone. "I don't want to hurt you on purpose."

"I know you don't want to hurt me." One of her hands was playing with my hair at the back of my neck, which was making it increasingly harder to concentrate on her words. "What we did tonight, well, that was awkward, new, and good for me. It felt good. I know that sex _will_ hurt for the first few times, but there's nothing that can be done about that. I…God I feel so stupid." I tried to move so I could turn the light on, but Bella held me in place. "No, don't."

"Bella, what is it?"

"I really want my first time to be with you."

I was sure I had a big dopey grin plastered on my face and was glad that Bella couldn't see it. "I'd be honored. Now that I said that, it sounds stupid, but it's true."

"I think I want to, uh, practice more before we do that though," she admitted as I kissed her forehead. If the lights had been on, I knew her cheeks would have been flushed pink from embarrassment. "And you know, have condoms around. Although, I have to admit, I was surprised you knew to try to find my clit. You didn't need a road map and knew generally where to look."

"I paid attention in health class," I said with a yawn. "No more practicing tonight though. We have all day tomorrow to explore each other, ya know?" The waggling of my eyebrows was missed on Bella in the dark.

"Day equals light and me and…um, so like, tomorrow night." I could hear the nervousness in her voice.

"Blind fold me, I don't give a fuck," I said. "I'm easy."

"Most men are," she said with a giggle before it turned into a yawn.

"Bella, I think you're beautiful just the way you are. Don't try to change yourself for me." I placed a kiss once again against her forehead and then trailed my lips down, stopping at the tip of her nose and then her lips. "I honestly don't know what imperfections you're seeing in yourself." She shivered and emitted some sort gasping-type noise but otherwise remained silent. I pulled the blankets up around us more and pulled her closer to me. It felt so good to have her laying in my arms with her legs tangled in mine. It felt right. It felt natural. Leaning down, I captured her lips with mine for a very slow, sweet kiss.

Hell, it made me all tingly. And not in the horny tingly way that I had expected. It was something entirely different that confused me. Ah, shit, it must be that being in love thing.

"Go ahead back to sleep now," I told her. "We'll talk more later on in the morning."

"I'm holding _you_ to that too," she said. "Good night, again."

"Night, love."

Maybe it was time to open up to Bella and talk to her about the things that had been going on in my life and bothering me. I don't know if she'd understand anything I was going through, but maybe getting some things off my chest would help me sort them out.

The next morning I woke up alone. I heard the shower running in the bathroom, and the hormone-driven male part of me wanted to go and join Bella. Then my dick spoke, almost literally. _Don't be an idiot. She's self conscious! She'd cut me off and what fun would that be?_ In this case, my head below my waist had a point. "So calm the fuck down and shrink so I can keep you intact, mmmkay?"

"Edward, who or what are you talking to?" I turned to see Bella in the doorway of the bathroom. She was wearing a snug-fitting pair of jeans and a long sleeved light pink v-neck shirt that showed me a tiny sneak peek of the Promised Land.

"Um, I was talking to my dick." Rubbing my eyes, I sat up, swung my legs out of bed, and sat on the edge of the mattress.

She was taking slow steps toward me and had a look of concern across her face. "Why are you talking to Pogo?"

"Pogo?"

"As in pogo stick," she said, sitting down on the bed next to me. "Your dick, damn it."'

"I was tempted to go into the bathroom and join you but, um, Pogo told me not to," I explained. This time, I was sure I was the one whose cheeks were blushed. "Um, never mind. Good to know I'm not the only one that nicknames body parts."

"I'm glad that you didn't join me because I probably would've knocked you out." Bella folded her arms across her chest and effectively blocked any chance to see the Promised Land. "Do you have nicknames for my body parts?"

"Oh yeah, I do," I confessed. "Um, your boobs are the Promised Land and uh…" I pointed to her lap because I was embarrassed to say vagina or pussy in front of her. "That's Heaven down there."

Bella blinked a few times and bit her lip. I knew she wanted to laugh. "What, no name for my ass?"

"That's Hell."

"What?!" She slapped my leg. "Edward!"

"No, no, you don't understand!" I grabbed her hand before she could leave or slap me again. "It's short for 'Hell of an ass'."

She was giving me the oddest look ever. One eyebrow was up and it appeared like she wanted to be mad at me, but couldn't quite keep up with the false pretense. "You are a weird, weird, perverted young man."

"Yes I am and I'm all yours in case you forgot."

That made her smile and she moved closer, took my face in her hands, and kissed me. "Go take a shower so we can eat. I don't know about you, but I'm starving since we totally forgot about eating last night."

"We had other things entertaining us," I said. "That far outweighed food, at least, in my opinion they did."

She laughed again before rising from the bed and then told me not to take too long of a shower because heating the hot water would use a lot of the gas in the generator. There went my plan for whacking off in the shower. I hurried like hell, put on some clothes, and then found Bella on the couch with her nose in her book again. Quietly sneaking up behind her, I leaned over, pushed her hair aside, and attacked her flesh with my lips.

"Edward!" she gasped and giggled before calming down and relaxing back against the cushions. "Much appreciated as you would say but badly timed when reading a book involving vampires."

"I'll bite your neck any time you want," I said teasingly. "And I won't even have to turn you into some weird creature."

"I'm hungry." Bella sighed as my lips left her neck. "For food…too."

Did she consider food an afterthought at this point? I must've been doing something right! Who would've have ever thunked it? "Let's see what we have in the kitchen to eat. After that, I want to go into town to get more fuel."

"I'm going with you." Bella placed a kiss on my cheek.

"I wouldn't have it any other way," I told her. "Love, I don't want to leave you up here by yourself in this weather."

She flashed a smile so huge at me that I swear her eyes lit up. It was like she was beaming at me, and I had done that to her with just some simple, stupid words. It kind of amazed me really. We stuffed ourselves on the sandwiches and potato chips Emmett had bought from the gas station last night. The drive down the mountain with Jasper's Mustang was painfully slow. Maybe a more experienced driver would've gone faster, but between my newish status as a driver and the vehicle not being mine, I was a nervous wreck with the snow and ice. Bella tried to console me by saying that she'd drive just as slow if she had been at the wheel.

Great, we both drove like senior citizens in bad weather.

Of course, the thought of senior citizens strayed to old people which strayed to grandparents which strayed to my own grandmother, Camilla. There were times that I really hated how my mind processed my wacky ass thoughts. I wondered what the old bitch had against me, and then I found myself getting angry at a woman I had no memory of. Pushing the thoughts aside for another time, I concentrated on the road ahead of me. Bella had wanted me to open up and talk to her for a while now, but I had been refusing. Earlier I had considered finally sitting down and talking to her. I was nervous at how to approach the conversation with her. Did I just push ahead full steam and possibly scare her with some of the feelings that I had been experiencing? I had to admit, that was one of my fears. I was afraid the she wouldn't understand or she would make light of the situation, but I really should've known better. While Bella might not completely understand, deep down I knew she wouldn't laugh or belittle me. Maybe sitting down with Bella and talking with her would be helpful with dealing with what was going on in my life. She wasn't a shrink, but she was someone who wouldn't be judgmental of me, like I wasn't judgmental of her when she opened up about her past. Maybe she'd also tell me what I needed to really hear from someone that wasn't related to me—that I wasn't insane or stupid for feeling the way I did about the things going on. I wanted to feel semi-normal again while everything was so up in the air.

While in Port Angeles, Bella asked if we could stop at some place so she could get a salad for later. Girls and their salads. I bit my lip from saying anything smart and then mentioned getting something for later too. At the gas station I was tempted to ask for some condoms at the register, but I thought better of it. I didn't want Bella to catch me with them because I knew at this time she wasn't quite ready for that next step. We headed back up to the cabin, and the trip up the hill was just as painstakingly slow as it had been going down. Actually, maybe it was slower. I was more nervous as the Mustang struggled to gain traction going up the hill. It took some time, but we made it and without any damage done to Jasper's precious car. If we made another trip to town I was going to get some rock salt or sand to spread in the icy spots.

Once back in the safety and warmth of the cabin, we put our newly acquired food in the fridge and sat on the couch—each one of us sitting on opposite ends but facing each other. Our legs were spread out with our feet resting on each other's laps. I was mindlessly running my fingers around Bella's ankles. "How do we do this? Do I dive right in? Do you sit there taking notes or some shit?"

"This is for you, so we can do it however you want to, although I don't have a notepad to take notes," she said. "Sorry."

"Where do I even start?" I wondered out loud. "I mean, does anything interest you more than something else?"

"It all interests me because it's your life." She was good at this. I could see Bella doing this as a career. "Start from the beginning. Start from the middle. Start from yesterday. It doesn't matter."

I thought about her words for a moment and something struck me. Although we were only teenagers, we were together as a couple and spent a great amount of time together. She was interested in my life not only because it affected me, but because in a way, it affected her also. If I was in a bad mood I didn't want to speak to her or hang out. If something was bothering me, it put me generally in a foul mood and it probably did the same to her when I was around her.

For the first time, I realized that my feelings and actions could affect someone other than the two people considered my parents. It had been so much easier to hide my feelings when it was just me, Peter, and Liz. I don't know why it hadn't hit me before that Bella would be affected by my confused and mixed up emotions. Well, shit, if I affected Bella, then everyone else in the house—all the people who loved me—were probably affected to some degree too. I wondered if they had found out yet that I was gone and what they were doing about it. Were they searching the woods? Had they called Charlie? Had Emmett given Carlisle and Esme my note? Or had Emmett totally cracked, spilled everything he knew, and someone was on their way to get us?

"I'll start with yesterday since it's the reason why we're here. The trip to the police station wasn't bad." Bella raised her eyebrows—perhaps in surprise—but didn't roll her eyes as I expected. "The jackass from the LAPD, Ford, was there, Charlie and Carlisle. Some of the questions were repetitious from earlier, but they had to go on record as I was being recorded by Charlie and Ford." I told her.

"What kind of questions did they ask?"

I imagined this was where Bella would be taking notes if she had a paper and pen. "Was I ever abused? How did they treat one another? Was I ever denied medical care? Who enrolled me in school? Um, did I ever apply for a passport? What states did we live in? Those kinds of questions. Ford annoyed me when he asked why I never had friends and I had to explain that to him. He isn't the brightest bulb in the box."

"You stopped making friends because you moved so much, right?" Bella asked.

"Oh, you're already smarter than Ford." Bella shook her head at me. "Why make friends if you're going to be gone in a year or less? It hurt too damn much after a while."

Bella chewed on her bottom lip before continuing. "Did you ever tell Peter and Liz that you hated moving so much?"

"I didn't dare," I explained. "I thought they were my parents. They loved and provided for me. I thought they were doing the best they could, even if that required constant moving. I didn't want to complain because I didn't want them angry at me. In my mind, I didn't want us to be somewhere that didn't have work so I could have friends. It wasn't fair to them."

Bella's hand was rubbing my calf through my jeans, and I was trying really hard not to get turned on by her touch as we were having our therapy session. "You were trying to be a good son," she said, bringing me out of my inner thoughts of her turning me on.

"I guess I was." I watched for a moment before continuing. "And I think all of that has to do why opening up and talking to you has been so hard and why I was so resistant. I'm sorry about that by the way."

"I think I understand now," she said with a sigh. "I'm sorry if it seemed like I was pushing you."

I shrugged. "You were worried about me. I'm used to hiding most things. I'm not used to being able to express everything to someone like this. Liz and I talked but not about everything. It wasn't until here in Forks that I even told her how unhappy I was about the thought of moving because of you."

"I'm sorry that I pushed," she apologized again. "It must have seemed like I was always on the rag and PMSing."

"Pretty much." She pinched my calf where her hand was. "Ouch!"

I settled back down on the couch and tried to think of what to say next. "Oh, and get this, okay, so like, at the police station, Ford was staring at me after my interrogation and it annoyed the fuck outta me, right? So I went and told the asshole to knock it the fuck off and to take a picture. He was all flustered, so he got up and left. Then your father actually said something _nice_ to me. To _me_."

Bella's hands shot to her chest. "Holy shit! Charlie Swan said something nice to you? To _you_? My father? Holy shit! What'd he say?"

"He said that he liked me far better than he liked Ford," I laughed. "And then he winked at me!"

"When the hell did the aliens land in Forks and take over Charlie's body?" Bella asked with a laugh. "I must've missed it."

"I don't know, but if the man cracks a smile you better run like hell." We were both laughing hysterically, and it felt really good to experience that with Bella.

"Did you go right to the jail to see Peter?" she asked.

"Not quite," I said. "Carlisle pulled over in Fairholm at Lake Crescent and we skipped rocks in the lake for a bit. I think it was his way of letting me let off some steam before we had lunch at um, let's see, I think it was called Wildfire. Carlisle wanted to go to Blue Flame BBQ, but they're not open on Mondays. I laughed and tried to imagine Carlisle all messy from eating BBQ."

Bella smiled at me. "It is pretty funny to see. You think he's all prim and proper and then to see him with BBQ sauce all over his face…you'd have to be there."

"He said that Emmett and Jasper like Blue Flame and that maybe we could make a day of it if we didn't mind hanging out with the old man."

"Hey!" Bella patted my leg. "Maybe you can stop there on the way to the Seahawks game."

"Great idea! I'll have to mention it to him. Hey, did you know that Carlisle actually likes Linkin Park?" I asked.

Bella blinked a few times. "Are you serious?"

"He has one of their CD's in his car and we listened to it on the way back." I laughed at the memory. "It was a different experience."

"You know, Carlisle is pretty cool," she said with a smile before she frowned. "You just skipped entirely over your visit with Peter."

I forced my head back into the couch and stared at the ceiling. "Damn, you noticed that, huh?"

"Duh, Cullen, I is a smart girl."

"That you are." I lowered my head and trained my gaze on Bella again. "Seeing Peter was… really hard. He already looks older. I told him I needed to know why he and Liz took me. And he did, he told me everything, Bella."

"And?"

"Can we take a break, please?" It sounded as if I was begging. Maybe I was. "I can only do so much of this talking about serious shit at once." I slid down the couch, lay down and patted the space next to me. "Come here?"

Bella crawled over to me, lying on her side and taking up the space between me and the back of the couch. We were in one of my favorite positions—her head was against my shoulder and tucked in under my chin. Her palm was splayed across my chest, right above my heart, and her one leg was tangled within mine.

"I'm squishing you." Bella tried to move away from me. "There's not enough room on this couch for the two of us."

"Sure there is." I snaked my left arm around her back and tried to push her closer to me but she was resisting. "Move onto me more."

"I'll crush you."

"You will not crush me," I insisted. "You didn't crush me last night, now did you?"

"That was different," she said, her voice uneven. "I tried not to put all my weight on you."

"I repeat—you will not crush me." Using both arms, I pulled Bella halfway onto me. Now her head was under my chin and resting on my chest. "There, much better. I don't know why you think you're bigger than you are."

"I'm not skinny like Alice and Rose."

"Thank God for that."

Bella's head shot up and she glared at me. "What does that mean?"

"I'll leave my sister out of this because I've never looked at Alice that way," I said. "Yes, Rose is a good looking gal and all, but she has no ass whatsoever." To demonstrate, my left hand glided down her back, toward her backside, and I squeezed Hell. "I can do that with you. With Rose, I'd probably feel bone. And can I say—EW. I don't want to feel the bones in your spine poppin' out when I run my hand along your back. That's gross." Bella was staring at me with a look of disbelief. "What are you, like five measly pounds over weight according to that stupid chart the doctors go by? Please, it's nothing."

Bella buried her face against my chest and her voice came out muffled. "No, more like fifteen or twenty at times. I can't help it. I like to actually eat food."

"As long as you're still healthy, then what's the big deal?" She tried to hide her face again, but I wanted her to look at me. "Bella, please don't hide from me."

She raised her head and met my eyes. "I just feel so damn fat, huge, and unattractive next to everyone else at school sometimes."

"You're not fat, huge, or unattractive." I pushed the hair that had fallen in her face behind her ear. "I told you last night, but I'll tell you again, I think you're beautiful just the way you are. And if it takes me telling you every damn day to get that through your thick skull, well, I'll just have to make that sacrifice."

"Sometimes I feel beautiful when I'm with you." Tears appeared in the corners of her eyes, and she wiped them away before continuing. "Like how we were last night. When I felt you all hard against me I wondered if I really had anything to do with that."

"You had everything to do with that," I said boldly. "You excite me quite frequently. Hell, just thinking about you sometimes gets me started."

"Are you serious?"

"May lightening strike me down if I'm not!"

Now she rolled her eyes at me. "It's not even raining."

"Doesn't matter," I told her. "I wasn't struck by lightening, so I'm serious. Besides, we already had part of this conversation once. I'm not built like Jasper or Emmett. Seriously, look at me! I don't have muscles and a six pack. I'm not perfect, but you want to be with my skinny ass. So you don't have a washboard stomach and a six inch waist, so what? I like that you've got real boobs that I can hold on to. You have an ass that I can grab and push into me when you're on top. When we're like this, I don't feel like you're fragile and that I'm going to break you if I squeeze too hard."

"Edward, you're going to make me cry, you know that?" she sniffed. Bella inched toward my direction and kissed me. I pulled her onto me more and settled her legs between mine. She deepened our kiss, opening her mouth and letting my tongue slip inside. To prove my earlier point, I placed each of my hands on Hell and pressed her into me. We both moaned at the friction.

"Do you understand what you do to me, Bella?" I trailed one hand upward, under her shirt and across her spine. A sigh escaped her mouth as my hand moved down her side and underneath her bra. Bella hips gyrated against me as my fingers found her nipple and teased it.

"I think so," she said timidly. "I just have to get used to the fact that I can do that to someone."

"I'm sure I'm not the only member of the male species you could do that to," I said teasingly. "Although I'd rather not find that out since I'd have to beat up everyone of 'em. And look at me! I would seriously need Emmett's help."

Bella rested her chin on my chest and glanced up at me. She was lookin' sexy and I knew she didn't even mean it. Damn feminine wiles. "Speaking of Emmett, did you happen to remember to check your phone when we were in Port Angeles?"

"Ah crap, no, I didn't. Hold on." My phone was actually hanging out very uncomfortably in my back pocket. I was sure that my ass cheek would have a permanent imprint of an iPhone embedded in it. I shifted my hips up off the couch, sending Bella downwards into my crotch and she admitted a small squeal at the unexpected movement. I reached around and removed the phone before settling us back down again.

"You know, I could've just gotten off of you," she stated. "It would've been easier."

I turned on the phone and waited for it to boot up to check for a signal. "But not nearly as fun, love."

"Horndog."

"Yup."

"Signal?"

"No bars means no service, right?" Cell phone technology was pretty brand spankin' new to me. While Bella didn't have a cell phone of her own, she had used Alice's or someone else's enough to know more about them than I did.

"That is correct."

She had settled back down against me, every curve of her body landing somewhere so tempting to touch that it made me want to sob to say my next words. "I should go outside and try to find a signal. It seems that my beautiful girlfriend has gotten Pogo all excited. The walk in the cold weather will calm him down."

Bella slid onto the couch next to me with a grin. "Sorry."

"Ain't complainin', just sayin'."

I gave her a quick kiss on the lips before letting out of my arms and leaving the warmth of the cabin. Walking around outside, my eyes alternated on the screen of the cell phone and where I was going. I didn't want to wander too far away or into the woods since I didn't know the lay of the land like Emmett or even Bella.

"Aw, come on, if there's a signal out here, find me, you little fucker." Great, I was talking to an invisible and possibly non-existent cell phone signal. I wasn't crazy at all. Quite frankly, I wanted to get back inside and Bella wasn't my only reason. The woods up here were currently creeping me out, and I wasn't sure why. I kept on hearing noises coming from them. Tree branches snapped, branches swayed, and my imagination was running away with me. I was standing on a rock, near the cliff, and happened to remove my foot to step back when the display on the phone showed four full bars for signal strength. Christ, this is technology? Trying to balance in on one foot for as long as possible, I waited and messages slowly started to load. I knew that once a text message came in, it was on the phone and I could read it any time, but I would need service to hear any voice mails. I had my left arm outstretched to help me keep balance while my right foot was off the rock. If I had to try to scroll through messages with one hand, I was sure that I'd fall off the rock and down the cliff and kill myself.

I'd like not to do that, thank you.

To guarantee the signal strength, I had to keep the phone away farther away from me too, so I couldn't even see the display very well. It appeared that I had two voice mails along with many text messages and missed calls. With one hand, I managed to press the button for the voice mail, switch it to speaker phone, enter my PIN number and listen to my messages with one hand and without dropping myself or the phone down the cliff. I was mad talented.

The first message was from Emmett. "Dude, if you don't get your ass off that mountain and back down here by tomorrow night I will be up there first thing Christmas morning. I will drag your ass back to Forks and I do mean that literally. You will be trailing behind the Jeep from a rope." There were a few moments of silence and I thought Emmett had hung up, but then I heard his voice again and it was softer this time. "I'm serious man. Mom hasn't stopped crying. You've hurt each other, but you've gotta come back so the two of you can work things out. And I miss my little brother."

He had slapped me the other night but then he went and told me he missed me in such a convincing, child-like voice that it was impossible to stay mad at him. "Yeah, I miss you too, bro."

The phone went on to the second message, and I soon found it was from Carlisle. "Edward, I understand why you left." His voice was calm and collected—a far cry from the first half of Emmett's threat-filled fest. "I hope you're safe and warm where ever you are. If you're not, _please_ call me. I won't betray your trust. I'll pick you up and take you somewhere neutral to wait this out. Please, don't stay away too long. All of us would really like to experience Christmas with you this year."

And that was it. No threats of permanent punishment for the rest of my life. Just… understanding and support? I was dumbfounded, but the message had come from Carlisle so I really shouldn't have been. Carlisle had really been the most sympathetic and considerate of my feelings. He hadn't exactly walked on eggshells around me, but he hadn't totally ignored me either.

I had gone outside to check on cell reception and to get Pogo—I can't believe she named my dick Pogo—to behave. Pogo was well behaved, felt partially frozen, and the twins were about to fall off. No other text messages had loaded, so I shoved my cell back into my pocket. Jumping down from the rock, I carefully landed on the snow-covered ground with a soft thud and headed back to the cabin.

When I opened the door to the cabin, Bella wasn't on the couch like I had expected her to be. I found her over by the fireplace with a roaring fire in the pit. "Bella Swan: Firestarter! Yet another one of your many talents."

"I've watched Carlisle and Emmett start fires for years."

I took off my jacket, kicked off my shoes, and made my way over to the invitation of the glowing fire and Bella. She had a blanket in her hands, which she bundled me in. Wrapped around the fireplace was a large gray stone hearth with a large enough area to sit down on off to the side. The blanket was over my back, Bella's warmth was sitting between my lap, and she handed me a cup of hot chocolate.

"Sorry, we don't have any milk." she said apologetically.

"No worries." I took a sip and realized I had indeed been spoiled by milk-infused hot chocolate. "I'll live. It's cold as hell out there now. I hope a storm isn't coming in."

"More snow and ice up here is the last thing we need."

"Hey, did you remember to move the thingy in the chimney that people forget about in the movies and causes smoke to back up into where ever they are?" I asked, not completely knowing what the hell I was talking about.

As expected, she laughed at me. "Yes, it's called a damper and I opened it." I buried my still cold nose into her neck and she squealed. "Ahhh! You're still freakin' freezing!"

I took one last sip of hot chocolate before placing the mug down and wrapping my arms around Bella. "I've got you in my arms so I'm sure I'll be all hot and toasty in no time. Thanks for taking care of me."

Bella shifted sideways in my arms and glanced up at me. "I'd like to think of it as us taking care of each other."

"I like that," I said. "It kind of feels like we're playing house. Shit, I forgot, I have some messages to go through." With my phone now in hand, I slowly scrolled through the messages that had been left and read them aloud to Bella.

Emmett: _They know you're gone._

Alice: _Come back home, please, Eddie._

Jasper: _Your mother won't stop crying._

Rose: _Does Emmett know where you are? He's acting goofier than usual, and that's saying a lot. I hope you're safe._

Emmett: _You've both done wrong and need to talk._

Emmett: _Damn it, don't know how long I can put up with the crying. Get your ass home._

Alice: _Did you drag Bella into this? I'll try to cover with Charlie if I can._

Emmett: _If Bella starts a fire, be sure that the damper is open._

Jasper: _Shit man, Emmett looks like a dog that lost his bone without you around. It's like you're his other half and not my sister. A tad bit depraved if you ask me._

Alice: _Please come home so you and mom can talk. This is breaking her heart. I know she's so sorry over what she's done._

Emmett: _Do you two have condoms? I don't want to be a teenage uncle!_

Rose: _The bastard knows, but he won't tell me. I know it! He's so damn jumpy! It's so weird that Carlisle is so calm about this._

Emmett: _If you don't come home Christmas Eve, I will be up there Christmas morning and I will drag your ass literally down that mountain!_

Alice: _FYI: Mom's parents were going to come to visit so they could meet you, but they canceled & hope to meet you another time. They're sad about it, but thought it'd be too much for you right now. They're nice people, you'd like them._

Emmett: _Dude, everyone here is so miserable without you here. Come home, PLEASE!_

Carlisle: _We still love you._

I wondered how Carlisle could be remaining so laid back right now. After what happened, I expected some anger toward me, but I felt none. Why the hell was he so damn calm? Did he somehow know where I was? But how would he know if Emmett and Jasper didn't tell anyone? "Midg's intuition is spot on in this case," Bella said. "Then again, she's rarely off. Are you ready for more talking?"

"Yeah," I sighed heavily. "I guess so."

Bella leaned over and kissed me on the cheek. "Don't sound so enthusiastic about it."

I pumped my fist in the air. "Oh, yeah for therapy!"

We rose from the hearth and collapsed back on the couch like we had earlier. "Okay, so, when we last talked, you mentioned that Peter had told you everything. Would you like to continue from there?"

"I think that's the most logical place to start at, Dr. Swan." Of course, my voice was dripping with sarcasm and Bella shot me an evil glare. "Okay, okay! Jeez… so Peter told me everything. Liz gave birth to a still born baby the day before I was born."

Bella gasped and covered her mouth, showing me that she was as shocked as I had been. "That's so sad."

"You're telling me." I let go of the blanket that I had gathered into my hand and was twisting around. "Evidently, Liz took the loss harder than most. Her parents had died in a car accident that she was also in, so she had no one but Peter. She was fragile, had to be sedated, and didn't remember having lost her baby. She blocked the experience out and was hysterical half the time, wanting to know where her baby was. Because of that, Liz doesn't know any of the following information."

"And that is?" Bella leaned forward like she was excited to find out what I was about to tell her. That's my life—movie of the week material.

"Carlisle's mother, my own grandmother, Camilla, met with Peter," I explained. "See, Peter and Liz both worked for Camilla. I don't know why the hell people like her are allowed to be on this planet."

"Is she that bad?" Bella asked. "I know Emmett said once that he only has a small memory of her."

"Is she that bad?" I stared down at my hands. "Bella, she _gave_ me to Peter like a damn gift."

Bella's jaw dropped. "Gave…what?"

"Camilla called Peter to the house and asked him if he wanted a baby to replace the one they had lost. She made up a story about a housekeeper having had a baby that they couldn't keep. Peter was worried about Liz's mental stability, so he took Camilla up on her offer."

"So there was no grand plan on Peter's part?"

I shook my head. "Right, I'll be damned if he's not also victim in this to a certain degree. Camilla gave him papers for me—you know a forged birth certificate and adoption papers, made it look legit and shit. She offered him a new job in Texas with someone she knew and money to make a new life."

"When did he become suspicious?"

"When they were in Texas he got a chance to really think about what happened after he saw the kidnapping on the news. He knew something was off and I almost think he would have returned me if their boss hadn't seen Peter sitting around looking guilty one day. The guy basically threatened Peter by saying that he needed to move on with his life or there'd be consequences. Peter was scared and wanted to protect Liz and me, so he kept quiet. I don't even know if Liz knows that I'm not hers yet. Carlisle told me that he found out that she had to be sedated at one point. She's innocent though. Liz had no idea I wasn't hers."

"Damn." Bella was trying to process the information just as I had to yesterday.

"If I tell you something, do you promise not to tell anyone else?"

"Of course," she said. "You can trust me."

"On the ride back I exploded verbally in the car and Carlisle pulled over. Part of what makes this so hard for me is the fact that Peter and Liz treated me well, like I was their own. I didn't know any better. I wished that they had mistreated me, and Carlisle was really upset at that comment," I paused for a moment, gauging Bella's reaction to what I admitted so far. "Camilla not only gave me away, but she also abused Carlisle and Tony when they were younger. They went through physical and mental abuse."

For the second time that night, Bella gasped. "What a fuckin' rotten woman! Why the hell are people like her on this planet?"

"I'll be damned if I know," I said. "If you ever figure that one out, be sure to let me know."

Bella came over to me, sat on my lap, and hugged me. "I'm so sorry. I think I understand a little bit better now. Liz isn't a bad person and it makes things a lot harder for you. Hell, in the end, Peter wasn't horrible and thought he was protecting you."

Bella continued to hold me for a few minutes, and our therapy session was over for the night. We took the rest of the afternoon and night easy, avoided talking about serious subjects, and ran back down to Port Angeles again to refill the fuel containers, get some rock salt for the road, and Bella picked up a few things for breakfast the next morning. On the way back, I stopped and pulled over just outside of Port Angeles. While we were somewhere that I could get a signal, I decided to check my messages so that I wouldn't have to almost cliff dive to retrieve them later. I had two voice mails and a few more texts.

"Man, would you please get your ass back home?" Emmett's voice pleaded. "I can't risk going up there to check on you right now. But believe me little brother; I will be up there Christmas morning if you don't haul it back down here. I hope you haven't blown the damn cabin to bits."

"Edward, trust me, I know what it feels like to need to get away, but I'm worried about you. I don't know where you are and I just want to make sure you're safe." Carlisle sounded as composed as his text message had come across. "Please call or text to just let me know you're okay. I know someone that owns Kalaloch Lodge. At the front desk, ask for Tom and he'll put you up in a cabin. I know you need time away to think and pull yourself together, but I want to make sure you're safe. I'm not mad at you for doing what you did because I really do understand your actions. We still love you and want to spend our first Christmas together. Your mother has waited seventeen years for this. Please don't make her wait another year. Please."

To placate Carlisle, I sent him a short text telling him "I'm safe" and that was all.

The texts contained more threats from Emmett, Jasper's take on what was going on at the house, Rose insisting Emmett knew where I was, Alice begging me to come home, and a second text from Carlisle that read "We still love you". I actually questioned if I had simply reread his first text, but I checked and there were two in the inbox, dated at different times. The man was nothing if insistent.

Talking with Bella had brought everything I tried to push away back to the surface. I had too much on my mind, and believe it or not, that night we didn't do much exploring of each other. I knew that I'd want to hit my head against a brick wall sometime over that asinine decision. We were alone in a place were we could make noise and not worry about anyone catching us, but all we did was kiss and go to sleep.

I know! I know!

The morning of Christmas Eve went much like the previous day. Bella and I had breakfast and went down to Port Angeles for more fuel. I was contemplating Carlisle's message in my head. Kalaloch Lodge was right outside of Forks and I assumed the cabins would have everything provided so I wouldn't have to worry about buying fuel or operating a generator. We wouldn't be able to stay up at our cabin much longer—the money Emmett gave me was dwindling. Because he kept on threatening to drag my ass off the mountain by Christmas day, I wondered if he had given me just enough money to last until then, or if it was dumb luck on his part. At first I assumed that it was the latter, but I knew that Emmett was smarter than he came across.

During lunch, Bella asked me if I would explain what happened on Monday. I agreed to talk to her, but to wait until we were finished for our next therapy session. We lay down on the couch and she waited for me to open up to her.

"I never told you or anyone else that the Monday after everything went down, when I stayed home from school, that I called Charlie and asked him for a favor."

"Charlie Swan??" Bella asked. "My father? Or is there another Charlie you know?"

"Your father, Chief of Police and all that jazz," I explained. "I wanted to get some things of mine from the house. I had no clothes of my own and the few personal belongings I had were there too. He came over, picked me up, took me to the house, and cataloged what I took, but I hid a few things from him."

"Like what?"

"An old, knitted blanket that Liz had made me, Peter's pocket watch, my baby book, photo albums, three-hundred dollars that I found in Peter's nightstand, and a family photo of the three of us that was taken at a Wal-Mart back in Utah."

"And you hid them in your room?" she asked.

"Yup, I did. But on Monday morning, I looked at the picture of the three of us. It was the first time I had taken it out drawer of the nightstand since I had put it there." I felt like I was trying to justify my actions for Bella, but I knew I didn't need to. "I left it face down on top of the nightstand for some reason. Later on, when I got home, after all that had happened and what I found out, I realized the picture and my belongings from my previous life were gone. There was a pile of clothes on my bed, so that meant Esme had been in my room. That's why I was down in the laundry room screaming like a madman. I was so angry that she had taken my things. They're mine… well, they were mine. Esme told me she had thrown them away. Those things, I know they're just tangible items, Bella, but they were the only link I had to Peter and Liz. The only remembrances of my past and them were destroyed. Esme totally stepped out of bounds when she threw my things out. She had no right!"

"You still love them, don't you?"

Bella was a smart girl, so I wasn't totally surprised that she had picked up on my feelings so easily. "I'm that easy to read, huh?"

"Not so much that, but it's totally understandable for me," she said. "You loved them for seventeen years of your life. They were everything to you. I hate to say this about Esme because she _is_ a wonderful person, but I bet she was jealous when she saw those things. I think she acted unreasonably."

"Unreasonably or not, she threw my things out and I acted like a raging lunatic." I was whining again. "How can I go back and face her after what I've done?"

"After what you've done? What about what she's done?" Bella moved forward and held my hands in hers. "I'm going to sound like Emmett, but you both did something wrong. The only way that this can be fixed is to get together and talk. I know you're probably scared at the thought of seeing her again, but it'd be for the best."

"Truthfully, I'm nervous as hell about confronting her again."

Bella squeezed my hand. "And guess what? I'm guessing she's nervous, too. With any luck, Carlisle has made her see what she's done wrong."

"Carlisle keeps on sending me texts that just say 'We still love you' and nothing else."

"He just wants to reinforce it with you," she said. "To make sure you don't forget."

"Why hasn't Esme tried to contact me herself?" I had come up with a few reasons on my own, but I wasn't sure if they were rational.

"I have a couple of guesses on that," Bella said with a smile. "She could be so upset that she can't stop crying long enough so she can say a complete sentence. Or, maybe Carlisle, and even Esme herself, decided it was better if she didn't try to contact you. If she tried to leave you a message and if something she said came out wrong and upset you, would you run farther or stay away longer?"

"I don't know really."

"Was there any other copies of the picture you took from the house?"

"At one time there was," I said. "It's been almost two years, I'm not sure if Liz kept them all."

"If Esme truly did throw your things out and they were ruined in the garbage, I'll talk to Charlie. Maybe he can check for the pictures and slip one out for you."

I ran my hand through my hair and realized I was doing that more and more lately when I was frustrated or annoyed at something. "I don't know if he'd do that for me."

"He'll do it for _me_ because he loves _me_ and…you're important to me."

I wondered if she was about to slip and say 'I love you', but I couldn't say anything. Bella didn't know I had heard her make her confession and I didn't want to embarrass her. "Yeah, but it's still _me_ we're talking about."

She shrugged. "Actually, I'm starting to think that Charlie likes you. He took you to the house, helped you get your things, and didn't tell anyone. Then you said he claimed he liked you over that other guy and winked at you? Those are so not Charlie moves if he dislikes someone."

"I don't know, Bella."

"It can't hurt to try," she said enthusiastically. "I mean, if there are lots of copies, why can't he get one? Or even make a copy of one for now?"

"Because he'd be obstructing justice or some shit like that."

"You need closure." Bella got up from her space on the couch, sat on my lap, and hugged me. "And I want to try to help with that if I can."

"Thank you, Bella," I said. "But I don't want to get you or Charlie in trouble."

"It can't hurt to ask, right?"

"I guess not." I was still not convinced Charlie would help me. "Thanks for listening and not running out into the woods screaming over all the information I told you."

"It's a lot to take in," she admitted. "But it helps me understand what you're going through. You might not see it yet, but I think opening up and talking to me will help you in the long run. Sometimes, you have to say things out loud in order to work through them."

All talked out, we both settled down on the couch for some more reading. I had been busy with school work and life in general, so I hadn't gotten through much of _The Odyssey_ before now. As I read, I become conscious of the fact that my mind wasn't completely into the book. I'd read some and then my mind would wander off to what happened that night with Esme. I read a little bit more and I'd recall the message Carlisle left about Esme waiting seventeen years for me. I stared at _The Odyssey_ and thought of Penelope, who waited twenty years for her husband Odysseus to return from the Trojan War. And then I thought of Esme, and the rest of my family, who had hoped to spend their first Christmas with me.

It was then, because of Odysseus and Penelope, that I realized what I needed to do.

* * *

**A/N: **Yeah, you know me and my cliff hangers. I hope this chapter wasn't too slow for you, but Edward really did need to talk and get everything out in the open with Bella. Plus, Bella needed to talk to Edward about her insecurities. Didn't know my Bella was a little chunky, huh?


	32. Escaping the Past

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Twilight.

**A/N:** This chapter is a prime example of why I'm always begging for reviews. When I got the idea for _Legacy_ in my head, it came in a rush all at once. Along the way the idea evolved somewhat, details and little things were added. I realized I forgot small shit or needed to clarify things that I had or hadn't mentioned. It all happened because of reviewers reaching out and saying something. Whether it was a simple comment or a PM with a question, things reviewers have brought to my attention have helped. This chapter is brought to you by **Anjie**, who won me at the Support Stacie Auction and instead of a new story, she wanted a Carlisle chapter of _Legacy_. She wanted some Carlisle lovin' and was expecting an Outtake, but after talking with her via email and sitting on the idea, this chapter came about. Unlike the previous Emmett chapters, this Carlisle chapter delves deeper into Carlisle's past, his feelings toward his family, and just Carlisle in general. I really love it.

**Anne**, who also owns me because of the auction, wanted another Emmett chapter. That will be Chapter 33.

Thanks to **Kerry513 **on Twitter for coming up with the Chapter title when she hadn't even read the chapter.

* * *

**Chapter 32: Escaping the Past**

_**California - the summer of 1980  
**_

To escape her yelling, I hurried down the hallway and to the bedroom I shared with my brother. The house was really considered a mansion because it was so huge. We didn't need to share a room, but we liked being able to give one another support when the other needed it. And we needed it frequently in this house.

"Tony!" I heard her screaming from downstairs. "You little bastard, where the hell are you?"

Opening the door to our bedroom, I was surprised to see my brother hanging halfway out the window. "Tony, what are you doing?" I closed the door behind me. She had a set of ears on her comparable to a bloodhound's nose.

Startled from being caught, Tony fell back inside the confines of the bedroom. "Carlisle, I'm sorry, but I gotta get away from her."

Tony was the oldest and was the more frequent target of our mother's attacks, but without him being around, I would surely be the most likely to incur her wrath. "Take me with you!"

"I need some time to myself," he said sadly. His entire body was shaking, and it wasn't from the cold. It was the middle of summer and had to be at least eighty-five degrees out. "I swear I'm going to hit her back one of these days."

"She deserves it, Tony." I wouldn't blame either one of us if we finally reached our breaking point and struck her one of these days. "After all she's done to us, she deserves it."

"No one would believe us, ever," he said before turning to the window once more. "I'm sorry, Carlisle, but I need to get away."

"Wait, Tony, where are you going to go?" I asked. "Do you have any money? You don't even have any food or clothes."

"I don't know, I didn't think it that far through." He stared at the floor sadly. "Shit, where can I go? None of my friend's parents would understand or let me stay without explanation."

"Stay here," I instructed him. "Get some clothes together and I'll be right back. Don't go anywhere, please?"

"Okay, I'll wait for you."

I left the bedroom and closed the door behind me. Why the hell did I have to be the brains of this operation? I wasn't one getting away from our bitch of a mother. No, I wasn't, but I fully understood how Tony felt. I'd been there too. I wanted to get away from this house as much as Tony did, although right now, he was clearly at his breaking point.

My heartbeat was racing out of control as I carefully and quietly made my way through the house. Having already torn apart the living room, Mother was now in the den on one of her tirades. I took one of the secret passageways our maid, Dorothy, had shown Tony and me. Though she had never said anything, I always thought she knew exactly how much our mother mistreated us and how much we wished to be free from her. Dorothy claimed that Mother didn't know about the passageways, but Father did. We used them to get around the house undetected from others, but especially Mother. Occasionally, when needed, we even hid in them.

I masterfully moved through the tunnels until I reached the area closest to the garage. Listening for any noise, I put my ear up to the panel but heard none. Satisfied that it was clear to leave the safety of the hidden walls, I pushed the panel aside and looked around. Luckily, no one was in sight. I grabbed a set of keys from the hook next to the garage door, shoved them into my pocket, and softly made my way into the kitchen. As quietly as possible, I threw some hard rolls, a jar of peanut butter, and some apples into a paper bag before I headed back to the passageway. I was more nervous about my next stop, as it was more dangerous. Inside the wall, I inched along the darkness at a snail's pace since I had stupidly forgotten to bring a flashlight. Mother always said I was dumb and never good enough.

Once at my destination, I listened carefully for noise. I couldn't even hear Mother yelling anymore. My fingers were trembling as I moved the panel about two inches. I stopped and waited, listening again for any noise. Moving it another two inches, I tried to look out the small space, but saw no one. I moved the panel fully aside, crawled out, and hurried to Father's gigantic wooden antique desk. Opening the bottom right hand drawer, I slid the fake bottom away to find what I was looking for—a large stash of money. Suddenly, I heard her voice in the distance, and it was quickly getting louder and closer. I grabbed a wad of twenties, slid the fake bottom back into place, closed the drawer, and high tailed it back to the passageway. I sat inside the darkness, trying to catch my breath and hoping nothing was out of place as she walked into the room yelling at her accountant. Waiting for my heartbeat to slow down, I cringed at Mother's yelling. It was bad enough to have to hear her yell at you, but to have to hear her to the same to someone else was also truly frightening. Thankfully her latest tirade didn't last long and they left the room. Standing up, I dropped the wad of cash and picked it up, hoping I managed to get all of it in the dark. I carefully made my way back to our bedroom and when I opened the door, I half expected not to see Tony, but I did. He was sitting with his back against the wall, the window—his freedom—behind him, before he rose to his feet at my entrance. I made sure to close the door behind me before meeting him in the middle of the room.

"Here," I handed him the paper bag with the hard rolls, peanut butter, and apples. "It's the only thing I could think of for you to take that wouldn't go bad." I then handed him the money and removed the set of keys from my pocket.

"Where did you get the money? And what are those keys to?" He studied the items I had given him. "What the hell did you do, Carlisle?"

"The money is from Father's office, and he'll never know it's gone," I explained. "The keys are to the lake house."

"It's a hike, but I can ride my bike to the lake house," he stated blankly, staring at the keys in his hand. "I can have some time to myself. Away from her, but away from you, too."

"I understand, I've been there myself," I said. "I just never had the balls to leave. You better get going before it gets too dark."

"Thank you, Carlisle." His head was bowed to the carpet. "I don't know how I'll ever repay you."

"We're brothers and we take care of each other, right?" I repeated what he had told me countless times.

I heard Mother's voice in the distance, screaming for both of us. He hugged me tightly and then looked me squarely in the eye. "We're brothers and we take care of each other."

"Don't stay away too long."

"I won't," he said. "I couldn't do that to you."

Shoving the items I had given him into his school bag, Tony backed away from me and walked toward the window. Opening it back up, he crawled out of it backwards and landed in the bushes outside. "I will repay you someday, Carlisle."

"Just go, quickly," I said. "I helped you because you needed it, now go!"

He waved and left, disappearing from my sight for the entire weekend. For those two days, I kept hidden within the walls of the house. I was too fearful she'd find me, so I was never in our bedroom. Mother searched for us the first night and then quickly forgot about us, her mind on other matters that better suited her. But on Sunday night, before Tony returned, Mother suddenly became conscious of the fact that she hadn't seen either one of us since Friday afternoon and searched silently for us. She found me in the kitchen, digging through the refrigerator for a quick meal. Mother slapped the food out of my fingers before her hand made contact with my cheek and other various body parts. That night when Tony returned and found me in our room, he apologized profusely and helped clean my cuts.

"Carlisle, I promise you that one day, that bitch will get what's coming to her," he pleaded with tears in his eyes. "One day, she will get hers and she'll never know what hit her."

_**Fall 2008**_

"Esme, are you okay?" Even though all the kids went outside, Esme had dragged me upstairs after dropping a bowl of candy in the kitchen.

"Carlisle, there's something about their friend, Edward." She sat down on the edge of our bed and anxiously fisted the comforter in her hands. "There is something about him, I know it in my heart," she said.

Totally dumbfounded as to what she was talking about, worry washed over me. "Honey, you're not making any sense."

"He's our son," she said firmly. "I know he is. Have you looked at him? I mean, really looked at him? He has your hair style, sense of humor, and your father's eyes and hair color."

"Honey, honey, look at me." I sat down on the bed next to her and cupped her cheek in my palm. "The boy is Edward Masen. He is a friend of Emmett's, okay? Anyone can have messed up, reddish-brown hair and green eyes. As for my weird and often twisted sense of humor that you seem to love, but also ignore at the same time, lots of people are the same way too."

"Call it mother's intuition if you will, but something is telling me that Edward is our son. His middle name is Anthony." Her voice seemed so hopeful, and I hated to deflate her dreams of being reunited with our son.

"Honey, the names Edward and Anthony are very common."

She turned and grasped my hands in hers. "Carlisle, you have to do something."

"Esme, what am I supposed to do? Ask the boy to ejaculate into a cup for a DNA sample? He'd go to the police and I'd get arrested for being the unknown neighborhood pervert!" I said trying to keep it together for her sake. "Do we really need that?"

"That so-called mother of his, Liz, I met her at the Thriftway," Esme explained. "She looks so familiar to me. I think she worked at your mother's estate back in '91."

"Lots of people have worked for my mother," I said. "No one can put up with her for a long period of time."

"I remember her being there before I gave birth," she insisted. "Before I gave birth to Anthony or Edward or whatever we call him."

"His name is Edward." I wondered if Liz had indeed worked for my mother. It could be a simple coincidence, right? I tried to push those thoughts aside because, deep down, something told me Esme's idea was preposterous.

She was still upset but had calmed down enough to go back downstairs to rejoin the Halloween festivities. Had hearing Edward's middle name upset her in this way? It didn't make any sense, but I'd go back in time and stop it because it really ruined my night. My wife was looking hot in her Morticia costume and I had been hoping to be able to score tonight. Fat chance of that happening now with her obsessing over some teenage boy.

The next day Edward cut himself in the kitchen, and an opportunity arose. My conversation with Esme came to the forefront of my mind. I couldn't ask him to ejaculate into a cup, but I could test his blood if there was enough of it. I drove Edward home and had a chance to talk with him and then headed to the hospital's lab. I explained the situation to a friend of mine, and, while skeptical, he agreed to test the blood on the paper towel against a sample of my own. The lab was only open for part of the day, so on Monday Esme stopped by to give a sample of her blood as well.

And then we waited. And waited. And waited some more.

When the news of the blood test results finally came, I was surprised more than anything. I honestly didn't expect Edward to be our long lost son. While I tried my hardest to forget, Esme had never given up on a reunion with him. She was ecstatic and wanted nothing more than to go retrieve Edward from the Masens, but there were legal matters that had to be taken care of first.

When we brought Edward home he was half asleep and confused with armload of new information about his life. He had none of his own belongings, so I sent Emmett, who he was the closest to, up with some of my old clothes. They'd be a bit too big, but I was the nearest to his size. I never heard from Emmett after that, so I checked his room and found he wasn't in his bed. Emmett slept on the third floor that night with his brother in his arms. I was glad that the two of them were already close and hoped that Edward would turn to Emmett for comfort. After seeing the two of them together, I knew without a doubt that Emmett would be there for Edward.

The plain and simple fact was that Edward was going to have a hard time adjusting. Hell, I'd find him a great therapist if that was what he wanted or needed. I knew first hand how much talking to a third party could help sort the rampant thoughts that muddled and weighed down your mind. The first three days Edward came to me in my study and we talked about various things. He never knew how much I enjoyed those times. He slowly let me into his life, and I'd like to think that I wasn't being intrusive. Edward came to me with questions and I answered what I could. On the fourth day when he never showed up at my door or asked to talk to me alone, I found that I was upset. I had grown to look forward to our little talks. It was almost like…he didn't need me anymore. I knew the feeling was asinine, but it was how I felt nonetheless.

Edward tried to keep his sense of humor, but I knew the boy could only put up with so much before something would finally break him. When I saw his hands on Saturday after his bout with the punching bag downstairs, I took care of them but also became increasingly worried about him. I denied his request to visit Peter and Liz when he asked. I wasn't sure that it was a great idea. His wounds hadn't healed yet, so why make them any deeper by seeing the two people he was taken away from? Maybe some part of me was jealous that he wanted to visit with them when he had Esme and I wanting to help him. Edward was visibly upset at my negativity toward his request. I was more worried about him now because it didn't seem like he was handling things as well as I had originally thought.

Very early on Sunday morning I had woken up restless. I found myself in Edward's doorway, but he wasn't in his bed. I hurried to the basement where I saw him, dripping in sweat and crying, as he attacked the punching bag again. As he kicked and punched the bag, I realized how wrong I had been. Edward needed to see Peter and Liz, even if for some kind of closure, and I had to give that to him. I know Esme wouldn't approve, but, deep down, I knew it was what Edward needed and he needed it desperately.

That night I waited in his room for him to shower. He sat next to me on his bed, just leaning against me, fighting sleep. "I'm sorry," he said.

"Stop apologizing for everything. It's not your fault."

"I don't know what to do with myself sometimes." He stifled a yawn.

"I understand."

A few minutes later I glanced down and found him asleep. Carefully, I moved him slightly so he was lying down, and I lay down next to him. If Edward woke up again in the middle of the night, I wanted him to think twice about leaving. Later that morning he nervously admitted that he thought I'd change my mind about letting him see Peter and Liz. No matter how hard I tried, I could never turn my back on him or any of my family.

"Edward, when I tell my family that I'm going to do something, I will do everything in my power to follow through with my promise," I said, smiling. "In case you forgot, you definitely fall into that category."

He leaned against me and I hugged him, my chin resting once again on the top of his head. "Thanks, Dad."

_My son called me Dad._ I was astounded at his words and afraid to speak, so afraid that I'd say something and he'd run away or somehow take back what he had said. He'd never know how much that small gesture meant to me. I just squeezed his arm and looked up when we heard a movement at the door. Alice and her damn camera. She tried to capture every moment no matter how small. And for once, I was glad. I would have to ask her to email me a copy so I could always have a reminder of the first time my son called me Dad.

I knew Monday was a hard day for him. After his questioning at the police station, I tried breaking the day up by stopping at Lake Crescent to skip rocks. It wasn't a punching bag, but I thought doing something physical would help him let off some steam. I knew he had a lot of it built up.

On the way back to the car, I put my arm around his shoulders and instinctively my hand went up to his hair. We both stopped, and I rested my chin on the top of his head. "You know, just because it's easy and it's what you're used to doing, it doesn't mean that you have to shut yourself off from us. We love you."

"I know, Dad, I'm trying."

_He called me Dad_. He had done that twice now, intentionally or not, I didn't know. I hoped there'd be a day where I could stop counting the times he called me Dad instead of by my first name. Maybe I was getting through to him. It felt like I had a case of butterflies in my chest as I pushed away a smile. "Give us a chance. That's all I'm asking," I said, freeing him from my grasp.

I liked to think that we bonded more on the ride to Port Angeles and during lunch. It was endearing that he even paid attention to the prices on the menu while we were at Wildfire. To my knowledge, Emmett and Alice never did that, though they never felt the need to. Edward told me about the Christmas gifts he had gotten everyone, but he wouldn't tell me what he had found for Esme. He sounded excited and uneasy about her gift at the same time and hoped she liked it. I thought he had made wise and thoughtful decisions in his purchases, and I was glad that he had the common sense not to go overboard. I thought his gift idea for Emmett and Jasper was great. I was actually looking forward to the guys' night we'd have in Seattle for the game. We talked about the different types of music that we both enjoyed, and I admitted to being a Linkin Park fan. I laughed out loud at the look on his face when I told him I actually owned one of their CD's and kept it in my car. I actually wished that Alice and her camera were there right then to take a picture.

When Edward met with Peter I wanted to be nearby incase he needed me, but at the same time, I didn't want to intrude. That was why I sat by the door, watching closely if something went wrong. I did go over once because Edward was leaning across the table and in Peter's face, but he turned around and told me he was okay. After the visit I was worried about Edward. Yet again, he chose to keep everything bottled up and not talk about it. Halfway home he finally lashed out, asking what kind of fucked up family he belonged to. And then he finally filled me in on what Peter had told him.

"Peter told me that your mother _gave_ me to him." he said. At those words I wanted to scream. Hadn't she done enough to me when I was younger? Tony and I had endured her tirades of hitting and demoralizing words, but did she have to mess with our children's lives too? Money was so important to her that she not only gave away her grandson, but she pushed my sister-in-law Jan down the stairs and caused her to miscarry. There was never any solid evidence against Mother, but Jan always maintained that she was pushed from the top of the stairs. As she tried to grab onto the banister before her fall, she saw Mother behind her. Later on that night, Jan miscarried a baby boy and was too afraid to ever try to conceive again.

Edward continued, filling me in on everything, and it turned my stomach when he wished that Peter and Liz had mistreated him. I knew everything was hard on him, adapting to a new life and family, but he had to understand that his wish wouldn't have helped him. I admitted to my past abuse at my own mother's hands and I thought he then understood. I even tried explaining to him how I strived to be a better parent to Emmett and Alice because of how I grew up. Fatherhood was not something I took lightly, and it was important for me to be near my kids as they grew up. I didn't want to look back when they were eighteen and wonder where the time went. I wanted to see the time go by and not just in pictures. Pictures were good to retain memories, but I wanted to see and experience things first hand.

Edward was so mixed up and upset over Peter's admission that he needed reassurance that Esme and I had nothing to do with his kidnapping. He let me hug him, and I tried to comfort him the best way I could. I hoped my words and actions worked, that he believed the truth when he had been lied to his entire life. He was quite for a moment before he finally spoke again. "I…I want to love you and Esme, b-but I'm not there yet."

Just hearing those words put a smile on my face. He _wanted_ to love us. I hoped before my time on this earth ended that Edward would learn to love us on his own accord. I knew Edward still loved Peter and Liz, and I couldn't blame him for feeling that way. I knew better than anyone else that you couldn't change your feelings for someone overnight. It took time. While I slowly learned to hate my own mother, I hoped that Edward would slowly learn to love me and Esme. To a certain extent, Peter and Liz were also victims of my mother. I didn't place any blame on Liz at all. The poor woman had lost a child of her own and had blocked the experience from her memory. Peter was manipulated by my mother and was naïve to believe her story. Once he found out about Edward's kidnapping from the news, he should have tried to contact us directly in order to seek out the truth. My opinion and view of Peter Masen was split between hating him for keeping my son and feeling sorry for the idiot for being lured into Mother's devious plan.

At home Esme eagerly awaited us in the kitchen. She didn't like the idea of Edward seeing Peter and even after I explained to her how much I believed Edward needed to see him, she still disapproved. I knew she was shocked and held back her words when Edward told her the truth. She squeezed my hand so tightly I thought she was going to cut off the circulation. Or break my fingers. I couldn't decide.

Right after Edward excused himself to rest, I went upstairs to call Percy. He had to get the ball rolling on what was sure to be an investigation into Peter's claims. I gave him permission to hire a private investigator and to do whatever was necessary to bring charges up against my own mother. Before I could finish our conversation I heard screaming from downstairs. I ran like hell toward the direction of the screaming. Emmett was pounding on the door to the laundry room. Inside, Edward's voice was loudly screaming at Esme. I quickly picked up the set of master keys from the kitchen and fumbled through them until I found the one for the laundry room.

When I entered the laundry room, Edward was screaming at Esme about taking his things. I had no idea what was going on, but Esme claimed to have thrown his items out. Edward was so angry that he started to lunge toward Esme. Unsure of his intentions, I tackled him by the waist and held him back. He was so worked up and full of anger that Emmett had to help hold him down. Edward was kicking and squirming so violently that one of his feet made contact with Emmett's eye, which startled Emmett so much that he let go of him. Edward flew out, and I could hear him running up the stairs to his bedroom.

Bella ran into the laundry room to Emmett while I was torn to whether I should check on him or question Esme for whatever she had done to make Edward so upset. Emmett was now standing upright, one hand covering his eye, and cursing under his breath. I promptly checked him and, sure that he'd be okay, asked Bella to get some ice on what was sure to be a black and blue eye. Turning to my wife, I knew she was already upset because she was sobbing and shaking. "What the hell did you do, Esme?" She opened her mouth to speak and then her lips formed into a frown. "What did you do?" I demanded.

"He had reminders of them in his room, Carlisle," she said through tears. "H…he had a picture of them and he had money saved up. He was going to leave."

"Honey, if he wants to leave now it's because of what you did," I said. "You should _not_ have taken his things, no matter how jealous of them you were."

Her hand flew to her chest. "Jealous? Carlisle, how dare you!"

"Then why did you do it, huh?" I asked angrily. "You're only going to push him away by invading his privacy and insisting he do things your way!"

Esme's hands were twisted together in front her as she wrestled with what to say next. "Why will he talk to you about things and not me?"

I went and embraced her for the pure and simple fact that I knew she was hurting more than she'd ever let on. "I don't know, Esme, I don't know why he chooses to talk to me about certain things. You just have to leave him alone to deal with everything in his own time table." I let her go and tipped her chin up so she'd look at me. "You can't expect him to move at your speed. I'm sorry that he's let me in more than you."

She crushed herself against me, and her arms wrapped around my back. "Should I go and apologize?"

"I don't think now is a good time, honey. I think you should wait and let him blow off some steam." For the rest of the night Esme barricaded herself in our room and was crying or on the verge of tears.

Alice, Rose, and Jasper returned and I tried to explain, without taking forever and a day, about what happened. I told them that the visit to the police station went well, but that Edward's visit to the jail to see Peter was more emotional. The three of them were shocked when I told them that my own mother had given Edward to the Masens. I then had the hard task of explaining that Esme had taken some of Edward's belongings and thrown them out because they were reminders of the Masens. Alice seemed to be the most upset, almost crying herself, at the news of her mother's actions.

Emmett and Bella had escaped up to his room, and when they came down, Emmett claimed to have gotten a call from the Willard family asking him to go over and plow. Their driveway was long, not as long as ours, but Mr. and Mrs. Willard were an older couple and had a hard time keeping the driveway clear in bad weather. At the same time, Bella had decided that it'd be best if she went home for the night, but her old truck had been making some strange noises on the way over. Since Bella's house and the Willards were in two different directions, Emmett asked Jasper to follow her home.

I had to say that I was skeptical at first when Alice started making googley eyes at Jasper. I was worried because he was older, even if only by a year, but they seemed like a perfect match. He would do anything to make her happy, was loyal, and seemed like an overall great guy in general. The only fault I could see in Jasper, from a man's viewpoint, was that… well, how did the kids put it? Jasper was totally pussy whipped. But from a father's point of view, that was a good thing, right?

When Emmett got home later that night, I asked him to try to check on his brother. He reported back to me that he knocked on Edward's door and didn't get any answer. On Tuesday morning while Esme made breakfast, I started to wonder if something was going on. Emmett was more fidgety than usual, and he and Jasper kept on exchanging weird glances. If I hadn't known that they were both so deep in love with their respective girlfriends, I would've guessed they were making eyes at each other. I tried not to let my suspicions of them show.

By mid-morning we still hadn't heard anything from Edward, so I asked Emmett to go up and check on him again. Emmett came running back downstairs with a piece of paper in his hand. "Dad, he's gone!"

Emmett handed me the paper, and I read it aloud. "I'll be back soon. I'm sorry."

In the kitchen Esme slid down against the cabinets and landed on the floor. "Oh, God, no, it's all my fault."

I went and comforted her, but didn't have the heart to tell her that I agreed with her assumption. I glanced at the note which I still had in my hand. Edward was always apologizing for things he didn't need to apologize for. Esme had pushed him too far, and he decided to flee. Edward wrote that he'd be back. He needed to escape for a little while, much like I had wanted to when I was younger. I voiced my feelings aloud to Esme. "Edward will be back. He said so himself. He just needs time to calm down."

Esme wanted to call Charlie and report Edward missing, but I insisted we wait. I was worried because we didn't know where he was, but I hoped that he was somewhere safe and warm and that he'd return to us soon. I had faith… and a hunch that Emmett and Jasper knew something about Edward's disappearance. Around lunch time Jasper and Alice were going to go out, but he couldn't find his keys. When he went to see if he had forgotten them in his car, he came back inside and reported that his car was missing. We assumed that Edward had found Jasper's keys and had taken his car to where ever he had gone off to.

Throughout the day, each of us sent messages to Edward, hoping that he'd respond to one of them. I called and, of course, was sent straight to his voice mail. Trying to stay calm, I left a message telling him I understood his actions and that I hoped he was safe and warm, wherever he was. I even offered to pick him up and take him some place neutral until he calmed down. I wished he had come to me first before running away because running never solved a problem—it just delayed the inevitable.

Edward did text me back once with a simple message—"I'm safe"—and that was all. While relieved that he was safe, I was still worried. Where the hell was he? As far as I knew, he didn't have any friends besides his siblings, Jasper, Rose, and Bella. The one time I had tried to call Bella's house the phone rang and rang, but Bella wasn't at our house. It was around dinner time, and I wondered if she had been out with Charlie. Was Edward hiding out at Bella's? Or was Bella with Edward somewhere else?

Esme and I did not sleep well that night. She tossed and turned, worried to no end about our son. I spent half the night awake, watching her feeble attempts at rest. I woke up once to find Esme clinging to me with fresh tears on her cheeks. Not able to sleep, we both showered early and Esme went downstairs. I waited until a more reasonable time and called Charlie and tried to approach the subject of Bella being off alone with Edward as gently as possible.

"No, she's not at home, Carlisle," Charlie said glumly. "She left me a note saying that she was bored so she was going to be at your house. What the hell has your son gotten my daughter into now?"

I explained everything that happened on Monday after we left the Forks Police department. "He was upset, Charlie. It's not all his fault. He needed to get away and I'm sorry he dragged Bella into it."

"Ah, crap, maybe it's better that she went with him, you know?" Charlie's words surprised me. "Maybe she can talk him into coming back home sooner."

"I hope that's the case," I said. "Jasper's car is missing, but he doesn't seem overly shocked or upset about it. I think Emmett and Jasper know where Edward is, maybe even helped him, and Edward has Jasper's car."

"I'm not going to make anything official yet, but I am going to fill in a few deputies that I can trust about this," Charlie said with an amount of calmness I didn't know he could possess. "If you hear anything that might help in finding them, please let me know. I'll only give them a few days before I make this official."

Although I didn't want to betray any trust I had built with Edward, I decided to check his room for any clues that he may have left. The bags of presents from the mall were in one corner. I noticed some picture frames on his dresser and went to look at them. There was one of Edward and Alice from the night of the dance, and the other was of me, Emmett, Jasper, Tony, and Edward from Thanksgiving. I smiled to myself at his picture choices. Edward was the exact opposite from Emmett and Alice in the fact that he didn't have much in his room. A quick look through his dresser drawers and closet showed nothing but clothes.

I went over to his nightstand and smiled once more when I saw the picture of the two of us that Alice had taken. There was nothing of importance in the drawers, but I spotted the little black notebook that I had given him resting on top. My stomach was queasy as I opened it to read it, praying for clues as to his whereabouts. I read through the pages, noting Edward's carefully written script with words such as "Time," "Patience," and "Understanding" while "be a better brother" confused me. I couldn't understand why Edward thought he had to be a better brother. Having siblings was new to him, but it seemed as if he had been doing a great job interacting with Emmett and Alice, and I wondered what made him think otherwise.

I continued to read, confirming his confusion with phrases such as "stop blaming yourself." He was not to blame for anything, but yet he put blame on himself for what had happened. I chuckled at the next entry, "have another plate party with the guys" because I had no idea what in the world that meant. It must have had something to do with Emmett and Jasper, and I could only hope it wasn't anything illegal. Edward took note of something for Bella and underneath it were the words "answers and healing." I wondered if he had written that entry the night before we went to see Peter Masen. I flipped the page and viewed the last two entries, both heartbreaking in their own right because they read "say good-bye to Liz" and "learn to love Carlisle and Esme".

The rest of the notebook was blank. While his entries had gained me some insight into my son's mind, they didn't help in figuring out where he ran off to.

"Dad?" Emmett's voice from the doorway jolted me out of my fog. "What are you doing?"

I glanced up and caught Emmett looking awfully guilty. "Emmett, what do you know about Edward running away?"

"Just as much as you do." He didn't sound very convincing to me; in fact, he sounded nervous.

"You're lying, Emmett. Close the door, please." He stepped inside, closed the door behind him, and then leaned against it. "Emmett, I'm going to ask you again, what do you and Jasper know about your brother running away?" He winced. I knew it.

"Aw, Dad, don't blame Jasper for any of this, please," he pleaded. "I roped him into it."

I patted the space on the bed next to me. "Get over here and explain yourself." He walked over slowly, a frown plastered on his face. "Tell me everything, Emmett."

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**A/N:** So ya know what? Um, hit the review button, k?

In other good news, I think I've thought of a sequel! ;)


	33. Emmett in the Middle

**Disclaimer: **I don't own it. I just play with the characters and twist them around.

**A/N: **As I mentioned in the last chapter's A/N, this chapter is brought to you by Anne for the Support Stacie Auction. Thanks for all the Carlisle love from the last chapter. I'm glad so many of you enjoyed it.

Many thanks to _Betty_ and her Culo for the Spanish. *wink*

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**Chapter 33: Emmett in the Middle**

Damn it. The jig was up. And I did mean the fact that Jasper and I helped Edward run away. Dad always could see right through me. "Get over here and explain yourself." Dad instructed, and I frowned. "Tell me everything, Emmett."

I never counted on Dad figuring out so soon that I had something to do with Edward running away. Dad was smart, but I thought we'd be able to pull the wool over his eyes, so to speak, for a few more days. Jasper was so nervous, and he wouldn't stop looking at me out of guilt whenever Dad was around. I mean, God, I knew I was an okay lookin' guy, but he wasn't converting me with his constant staring! Okay, I knew that wasn't what he was trying to do. He never thought his nervousness would implicate us so much. I was so stupid—I should've found another way to help Edward without involving Jazz in the plan. Now we were both bound to be in deep shit.

Sitting down on the bed, I apologized. "I'm sorry, Dad."

"Why'd you help him?"

I could never look Dad in the eye when I had to admit that I had done something wrong or when I lied, so my gaze was trained on the floor. "Bella and I caught him outside after he climbed out his window. He had no idea what he was doing, and I was afraid if I didn't help him that he'd go out and freeze to death somewhere."

"So you wanted him to be somewhere safe?"

Embarrassed by my actions, I continued to stare at the carpet. "Yeah, I didn't want Edward getting hurt or getting into a worse situation. He needed to get away for a little while and clear his head. I wanted to know where he was, rather than where he wasn't. Dad, I'm sorry, does that make any sense to you at all?"

"Emmett, look at me, please." When I finally managed to detach my eyes from the floor and meet my father's gaze, I was stunned. "Thank you for helping your brother escape."

When was the last time I cleaned the wax from my ears? Maybe I was in dire need a Q-tip. "Wait… you're thanking me?"

"You helped Edward when he needed you the most," he said. "That's what you're supposed to do for your family."

Was he messing with my mind? "You're… you're not mad at me?"

"Instead of him running away unprepared, you helped him so that he'd be safe and you'd know where he was," he explained. "So, where is he?"

"He's up at the cabin," I admitted. "That's why I was out so late Monday night. I never got a call from the Willards to plow their driveway."

Dad seemed surprised for some reason. "The cabin we have outside of Port Angeles?"

"Do we own another cabin? It's the only cabin I know of that we own," I said with a shrug. "I thought it'd be good for them to be there because it's not too far away from civilization, and there's the generator so they have heat."

"And at the same time, you know exactly where they are. You had a great idea, Emmett." Dad patted me on the back. "I'm proud of you."

Relieved, I exhaled the breath I had been holding. "I thought you were going to be pissed as hell at me if you found out." I never imagined that Dad would be this calm if he had found out the truth behind what I did. "I expected a lot of screaming and stuff."

"I understand the situation, more than you know," he said. "Have you heard from him at all?"

"No, nothing," I said. "You?"

"He text me once," Dad explained, his voice sad. "He told me he was safe."

"I haven't heard from him, but I did leave a message that if he didn't come home today that I'd be up there tomorrow morning and I'd literally drag his butt home from the Jeep." Dad laughed. "Since he doesn't know much of anything about cell phones, I told him to keep his phone off as much as possible so he can't be tracked with the GPS."

"But that's not true."

"You know that, I know that, and Bella probably knows that, but he doesn't know you have to take the SIM card out of the phone in order to disable the GPS," I explained. "I didn't think he'd run any farther, but if he did, we could track him with his phone."

"You are much smarter than anyone gives you credit for."

"Aw, shucks." I didn't take compliments well and was now embarrassed at my father's words. "So Jazz isn't in trouble either? He was so worried that you and Mom would kick him and Rosie out if you found out that he was involved."

"I don't think I could kick them out, no matter what they did."

"Jazz is always telling me that I lucked out in the parental department," I said. "The way he said it, I just thought he was joking, but now I know he ain't."

Dad smiled at me. "You ain't too bad yourself, kid. I'm going to call Edward and leave another message and tell him about Kalaloch Lodge. Even though we know where he is, I'd rather have him closer. If a storm hits the cabin it's too remote for my liking."

I nodded and sat and listened to my father's voice as he called Edward and left a message. How he managed to remain so damn composed in this situation, I'd never know. "Dad, why are you so okay with this?"

"I helped your uncle Tony escape once." I was taken aback. He continued on, telling me how my grandmother used to hit and belittle them when they were younger. Dad had caught Tony hanging out of a window, and instead of running away with him he went and got Tony food and the keys to a lake house his family owned so he could take some time to be by himself.

To be honest, it scared me that something like that had happened in our family. "Dad, can I tell you something?" Too nervous to look my father in the eye, I trained my gaze down on the floor again, my fingers nervously twisted and untwisted. "I'm worried that I'm like your mother now. You know that I beat up Danny Riglitori back when I was thirteen. When I was outside with Edward, I slapped him right across the face."

"Why did you slap Edward?" His voice was even and calm, but I still couldn't bear to look at him.

"I… I don't know," I said fearfully. "I thought he was going after Mom and wanted to make sure he knew that you don't go after women, especially our own mother. I guess wanted to slap some sense into him, literally."

"So, you were defending Rose from a creep that you thought was trying to rape her and defending your mother, am I right?"

I nodded. "Yeah."

"Emmett, you did those things with good reason," he said. "Have you ever hit anyone else?"

Stunned, I glared at him. "No, of course not."

"I don't think you have anything to worry about. My mother would hit us because we walked in the door." Dad was rubbing my back again, and I had to look away. "You were defending loved ones. Did you feel guilty over slapping Edward?"

"Oh, God, yeah, I apologized to him more than once. I hope he knew that I really meant that I was sorry," I said. "Dad, I wish I hadn't done that to him."

"Emmett, you're not like my mother." I turned my head toward my father again. "You are so very far from it. You felt remorse for your actions and she never did. I _never_ once heard an apology from her for what she did to us. She's a hateful woman while you have a good heart. You did what many other people would have in your position—you stood up for someone."

"I don't know, Dad." I had only gone off on others twice now, but the fear that an unnatural side of me could come out always loomed under the surface.

"Emmett, please, believe me son, you're not the bad guy."

"I'll try." I wasn't sure if I sounded believable. "Dad, what on earth did Mom do that got Edward so upset? I only partially know Edward's side. He said she threw out his things. He was so upset; I never understood what he meant."

Dad sighed again. "She went to put some clothes in his room and noticed something on his nightstand. As it turned out, it was a picture of him with the Masens. Your mom was jealous and went through his room and found a few other belongings that she didn't think he should have. They represented his old life. She told me she also found a knitted blanket, a pocket watch, and an envelope with three hundred dollars in it. Your mother was afraid that Edward was going to run away with the money. The very thing she didn't want to happen did."

I had been trying to avoid talking much to everyone else in the house because I was nervous I'd slip with the information I knew. Funny, Dad connected the dots because of Jazz's glares. Since I was avoiding too much talkage, I had no idea Dad had informed the others of what happened. Even Rose was annoyed at my recent constant avoidance. It had been especially hard to ignore her while we were alone. Until a few minutes ago, I didn't have the guts to ask what Mom had done to piss Edward off so badly. "Oh, damn," I said. "She shouldn't have done that. No wonder Edward was so upset. I can't blame him.'

"I know…I can't really blame him either," he said. "Let me know if you hear from Edward. I'd really like to encourage him to come home for Christmas, if even only for a few hours and then I'll take him to Kalaloch Lodge if he's not ready to come home yet. He can't stay away forever."

Dad wanted to know about the other little details of my plan and how I had gotten Jasper involved. Again, he reassured me that Jasper wasn't going to suffer any consequences from helping Edward run away. I seriously had the best understanding and supportive father _ever_. And luck had nothing to do with it. He left to go call Charlie to let him know that we knew where Edward and Bella were. I hoped that Charlie wasn't going to hop into his patrol car and head straight up to the cabin to retrieve his little girl from my brother's devious clutches. I went down to my room, and Alice barged in a few minutes later. She stood in the door way, both hands planted firmly on her hips. "Okay asshole, what is going on? Don't try to deny anything! I know my Jazz, and something is up and it involves the both of you. Spill it, you bastard!"

"Close the damn door, shorty." I asked nicely.

Alice closed the door and leaned against it, her arms folded across her chest. "You and Jasper have been exchanging weird looks all damn day. Why are you two making googley eyes at each other? Why is he acting guilty? And why did I see Jazz's car up at the cabin in a dream last night?"

"Short psychic freak!" Alice glared at me. "Okay, okay, Edward is up at the cabin."

"You helped him _leave?_" Her mouth was slightly ajar in disbelief. "Are you outta your freakin' mind?"

"You weren't here, Alice. You didn't see how angry he was. You see this black eye?" I pointed to my right eye. "I got it when Edward kicked me in the damn face! He was going to leave one way or another. It was either help him so I'd know where he was or let him go off on his own and who knows what would've happened to him."

"Well, asshole, when you put it that way." She rolled her eyes and walked over to me. "I guess you've done good, blockhead."

"You little bitch, stop callin' me an asshole."

Alice rushed over to me, pretended to put me in a headlock, and kissed my cheek before landing on the couch next to me with a bounce. "Do Mom and Dad know that you helped their middle child runaway?"

"Well, Dad knows now, but Mom doesn't and I think I'd like to keep it that way," I said. "She's got enough to deal with right now."

"I know." Alice frowned. "You know, Dad told us what happened Monday night when we got home and you were nursing your eye. Jasper went and looked in the garbage for Edward's things. He thought maybe they could be salvaged, but he didn't find anything."

I had to give two points for Jazz for looking out for Edward's best interests. "Really? So what do you think Mom did with his things?"

Alice shrugged. "I dunno, but I'm thinking that as jealous as she was, Mom couldn't actually throw out his stuff. You?"

"I sure as hell hope that's the case, squirt." Alice stuck her tongue out at me. "I think it'd make things easier in the end."

"You're thinking Edward would be able to forgive Mom a lot faster and we could become one big happy, but slightly dysfunctional newly-formed family again?" Alice was smiling and being sarcastic. "That'd be sweet."

"It's that or have Edward mad as hell at Mom and Mom crying all the time," I said. "Which would you prefer?"

"Slightly dysfunctional family, that's for sure."

"My point exactly." I scratched my head and tried to think of what to do. "Okay, listen here, shrimp. You need to try to convince Mom with your little déjà vu feelings that Edward is okay and will be home soon."

"Done and done. What are you going to do?"

"I'll keep texting and calling him," I said. "There isn't much more I can do until tomorrow. I told Edward that if he didn't return for Christmas Day that I'd be up there and I would literally drag his scrawny ass home. Until then, short stack, work your magic on Mom."

"Yes, sir!" She mock saluted me. "Anything you say Colonel Culo!"

"Colonel what?"

She laughed at me. "That's for me to know and for you to never know!"

"Oh, knock it off, Little Bit," I told her. "Go work your magic on Mom."

I hoped that Alice would be able to convince Mom that things would work out for the best. Grabbing my phone, I sent another text to Edward.

_Jasper checked the garbage for your things & never found them. Don't think Mom really threw your stuff out. Please call, man._

He'd have to respond sooner or later, right? I sure as hell hoped so.

An hour later I went downstairs to check on things. Yeah, basically, I was being nosey. As I rounded the corner to the living room, I spotted Mom and Alice on the couch, still deep in conversation.

"Mom, he's going to be home for Christmas, I know it."

Smiling, I went into the kitchen and to the fridge to get grab something to drink. "Alice, are you having one of your feelings?" I tried to sound curious and not skeptical.

Alice glared at me evilly. "Shut it, Culo."

Mom sniffed and shook her head. It actually appeared as if she was trying not to laugh. "Mary Alice, stop calling your brother an ass in Spanish."

The little pip squeak looked surprised. "But Ma! He keeps calling me every name in the book for short."

"You two _and_ your brother are going to make me gray before I'm fifty. I'm really trying to fight the gray!" Mom turned in my direction. "Have you heard from Edward at all?"

"No, Mom, I haven't." I noticed how red and puffy her eyes appeared. "I've been texting him to come back or call, and I haven't heard anything from him."

Mom leaned back into the couch, her head resting against the back, and closed her eyes. "I just hope he's safe."

I eyed Alice and she nodded. "I'm sure he is, Mom," she said, more convincingly than I could ever be.

"How much sleep have you gotten?" I asked, walking over and sitting on the couch next to her with Alice on her other side.

With her eyes still closed, Mom answered. "Truthfully? Not much at all. I'm too worried about Edward to sleep."

"He'll find his way back home again," I said, taking my mother's hand in mine. "He's needed some time away to cool off. Edward is a smart kid. Sooner or later he'll come around and realize he's got to come back and deal with everything."

"I'm hoping for sooner rather than later." Alice said with a smile.

"Me too." I admitted. "I miss the moron."

Mom opened her eyes and looked at me. "I'm messing up right and left with Edward. I'm glad he has you two and your father to turn to."

I saw Alice bite her lip and grimace at Mom's words. It had never dawned on either of us how much Mom was hurting over her lack of bonding with Edward. "When he comes back, and I know the moron will be back, just give him space and don't push him," I advised. "He knew Alice and me as friends first, so I think that's why it's easier for him with us. As for Dad, I don't know. Maybe it's a guy thing. Just give him time."

Mom smiled weakly and it looked as if she was about to start crying again. Oh, I couldn't take it much longer. Edward's ass was being hauled off that mountain tomorrow morning if he liked it or not. I didn't care if it was for a few hours as Dad has suggested earlier. I didn't like lying to my mother, and seeing her crying or on the constant verge of tears was giving me an ulcer. Or maybe it was hunger pangs; it was in between lunch and dinner and I hadn't had a snack.

Dad came downstairs, and Alice moved aside so he could take her place. "Honey, what did you do with his things?"

Mom bit her lip and shifted on the couch to face him. "They're in the garage in a garbage bag. I was so jealous and I wanted those things out of his room… but I couldn't bring myself to throw them out." Then she started crying again, and my stomach started hurting. Maybe it was an ulcer.

I excused myself to the kitchen under the guise of getting more water and I quickly sent off a text to Edward.

_She didn't throw out your things!_

"Emmett?" Hearing my name, I faced the living room. "The bag with Edward's items is over on the shelf above the Christmas decorations. Can you please get it and put it in your brother's room for your mother?" Dad asked.

I went into the garage and searched the area he had mentioned. Finding a garbage bag, I snuck a look inside. There was a cheap looking gold frame with a picture of Edward and the Masens in it. Closing the bag, I flicked off the light and ran the items upstairs, leaving them on Edward's bed.

Rose and Jasper had gone over to their parents' house for a few hours for Christmas. They claimed it was only because their grandparents were in town, but I knew to some extent the rift between them and their parents bothered them. Edward's running away hit a note with Rose and Jasper, and it didn't take much for them to agree to a Christmas visit. They arrived back from their visit, and then all us were moping around the living room. Dad was holding Mom in his arms on the couch, and she was trying so hard not to shed another tear. It was kind depressing actually. None of us knew what to say to one another, especially to Mom.

"You want me to go into town and pick up something for dinner?" The question wasn't directed to anyone in particular, but Mom had always been in charge of the cooking.

"That might be a good idea, dear," she answered. "I'm not in the mood to cook and you don't help me like your brother does."

She was already missing their kitchen time together. "The kitchen is too small for me. I bump into everything." I complained.

Rose, who was sitting next to me, squeezed my hand and muttered under her breath. "Poor baby." She knew that honestly I didn't like doing anything in the kitchen more than hunting and gathering for liquid refreshment and the occasional snack.

I couldn't help myself. I started laughing. "Yeah, remember the time I tried to help you cook and I knocked a pot of something off the stove top with my butt?"

Dad smiled faintly at the memory, but Mom was beaming. "I always thought you did that on purpose to get out of kitchen duty!"

Rose started laughing next to me and then she started singing. "Emmett's got a big butt and I can not lie!"

"Oh, Ro, you should've continued! Emmett," Jasper said between fits of laughter. "There is nothing wrong with the size of that kitchen. You just don't like to cook."

"Yeah, your butt ain't nothing special!" Alice said.

"Oh, stop picking on me!" I begged.

"You're such an easy target, Culo!" Alice said. She was lying across Jasper's lap, trying to contain her laughter.

Mom's pointer finger was extended in Alice's direction. "Mary Alice, I told you to stop calling your brother an ass in Spanish!"

"Daaaad, Mom said ass!" I teased. "Are you going to wash her mouth out with soap now?"

"Esme, stop encouraging the kids," he chided. "Emmett, you said ass too!"

Ha! I made him say it! "But Alice said it first!"

Alice sat up and stuck her tongue out at me again. "I said it in Spanish so that he wouldn't know what I said, but Mom had to go and spoil it!" Then she tried to flip me the bird inconspicuously.

"Mary Alice, I saw that!" Dad said.

Everyone was in a fit of giggles when my phone rang. Recognizing the ring tone, I hurried and retrieved it from my pocket before answering it. "Edward?" Mom sat up and her eyes were wide and hopeful as she stared at me.

"Emmett?" My ears strained to hear him against the howling wind in the background.

"I can barely hear you." I covered my other ear with my hand to block out my family's excited chatter.

"…halfway off cliff… damn reception."

"Shhh! I can't hear him very well." I told everyone in the room. "Edward, what about a cliff?"

"Signal sucks!" I tried not to laugh. "….speaker phone….half off cliff."

I could hear everyone muttering about a cliff but couldn't confess that I gathered Edward didn't have a signal unless he was on the edge of the cliff. I didn't understand why he had me on speaker though. "Edward, would you _please_ come home?"

"…back… few hours….Bella home…"

Once again I motioned for everyone to be quiet. "Wait, are you coming home? Or did Bella go home?"

The cell phone Gods must have been watching us because his next sentence came in loud and clear before we were disconnected. "I'll be back in a few hours. I'm going to take Bella home first."

I stared at my phone for a moment before meeting the gazes of my family. "What did he say, Emmett?" Mom anxiously asked.

"He's going to take Bella home first, but he'll be back home in a few hours." Everyone started smiling, myself included. "He's coming home. Edward's coming home!"

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**A/N: **If you liked it, you know what to do!


	34. A Round of Apologies

**Disclaimer:** Still don't own the shit.

**A/N:** Thanks to Bridget for being my quick turn around beta and thanks to Meg, Betty, and Liz for being my pre-readers. And thanks to someone, I forget who you are because I didn't take down your name, who questioned if it was really right for Carlisle to have read Edward's notebook. Because of that mention, I thought of the great conversation at the end and, well, the ending itself. See?? I told you when you comment on shit it sometimes sparks shit in my head!

For those of you not in the know or from another country, Charmin is a brand of toilet paper and "The Peanuts" is a comic strip. If you don't know what I mean by "The Peanuts", I sometimes forget it's correct title and want to call it "Charlie Brown" after the main character.

I think this is another Emo chapter that will make you feel BiPolar again. I think I like having power over making you feel BiPolar. I'm sadistic like that I guess. All over emo people or pregnant or hormonal women might want to keep a box of tissues handy just in case. Guys... um.. shit, are there any guys out there? Do the manly thing and wipe your eyes on your sleeve.

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**Chapter 34: A Round of Apologies**

"Damn, stupid fucking cell phone signal!" I cursed and jumped off the rock, back to flat ground. Hoping Emmett had been able to hear my message, I made my way back to the cabin. When I told Bella I had decided that it was best if I returned home, she told me to go and call Emmett so my family could stop worrying. Of course, Bella thought I was partially insane or sick from food poisoning when I told her my reasoning behind my decision to go home.

"It's because of _The Odyssey_, Bella," I said. "I can't make Esme wait twenty years for me."

"Are you feeling okay?" She placed her palm against my forehead. "You don't feel like you'd be running a fever."

I removed her hand from my forehead and held it. "I'm not running a fever."

After my explanation to Bella about the correlation between Odysseus and Penelope to Esme and myself, she was a little misty eyed but then understood reasoning.

Entering the confines of the cabin, I stomped the snow off my boots before continuing in. "Okay, Bella, I did everything you said about the generator outside and called Emmett." There was still gas left over, so we were taking it back with us. It was too expensive to waste and too dangerous to leave behind. "Emmett could barely hear me, but I think he understood me." Although, you know, I'd been wrong a lot lately. Maybe he had no idea that I said we would be back in a few hours.

"Okay, good, did he say anything?" Bella was in the kitchen packing up the items we didn't use and cleaning up.

"I don't know," I said. "The reception was horrible."

"We can call again when we're closer to Forks," she said. "Why don't you go and drain the pipes in the bathroom? Then run the water into a container until it stops and then turn it off so you don't get air into the pipes."

"Sounds like a plan." I went and drained the pipes in the bathroom we had used and wondered how the cabin had plumbing but not electric. We had put the fire out, closed the damper, and dealt with the fireplace first to make sure the embers had died. By the time Bella was finished in the kitchen, I was done with the bathroom and the cabin had started to get cold from the lack of heat. "Ready to pack the car?" I asked.

"Let's do it!" I could tell that Bella was excited to get home. Me? I knew this was what I needed to do, but I had what could only be described as a greenhouse full of butterflies inside of my stomach—complete with greenhouse. We quickly packed up the car, secured the cabin, hopped in Jasper's Mustang, and headed down the mountain.

When we reached the main road, my phone made a noise and I knew I had text messages waiting for me. "Bella, can you read them?" I asked, passing my phone over to her.

"The first one is from Alice," she said. "It says 'I know everything! I will help Emmett drag your ass down that mountain tomorrow morning if you don't come home!' Oh, the little spit fire." Bella laughed and then gasped. "It's from Emmett! 'Jasper checked the garbage for your things and never found them. Don't think Mom really threw your stuff out. Please call, man.' Edward, do you… wait…"

I wanted to smile and like, fucking cheer or some shit, but I couldn't yet. Were my things really safe? Did Esme lie out of jealousy?

"Your things are safe, Edward," Bella said with a smile, genuinely happy for me. "Emmett texted you again and it says 'She didn't throw out your things!' This is really great news!"

While ecstatic beyond belief that my things were safe, I felt torn in half because there was a part of me that was mad at my own stupid behavior. "Esme didn't throw my things out, but I went off like a nut job, kicked Emmett in the face, gave him a black eye, and ran away from home. This just makes me look like one huge asshole."

"Don't do that to yourself," Bella said. "You were only reacting to what Esme told you. If she had revealed that she had your things somewhere, do you really think you would've reacted so…um, well, violently?"

"I honestly don't know," I said. "I still would've been pissed over the fact that she took my things."

"You need to stop beating yourself up over this." Bella stared at my phone. "You can't go back and change what happened. I should call Charlie."

While Bella called Charlie, I thought about what had happened. Bella was right—I couldn't go back and change the past. I had reacted to the situation based on the facts that I had been given at that very moment in time. If Esme told me something else, maybe I would have reacted differently to her actions. In the meantime, I didn't have a time machine to go back to late Monday afternoon. Life wasn't one of those kiddie books where you could choose a different path by choosing a certain page number. Shit, if life could only be that easy. I had picked my path and now I had to deal with the consequences of the storyline.

"Charlie knows I was with you," Bella said, breaking me out of my day dreaming. "I must say, I'm very surprised how… um, non-threatening he sounded."

Charlie wasn't mad that Bella was alone with me? "The aliens did get him."

"Indeed they did," she said, suppressing a laugh. "Charlie has to work tonight since he's off tomorrow. He wants you to swing by the police station so he can hug me good night. Damn, the man is being sentimental tonight."

"I guess Christmas will do that to people," I said. "Maybe he really wants me to swing by so he can give me a stern talking to about corrupting his daughter's morals."

"Oh, honey," Bella said between fits of laughter. "I've known Emmett since I was five. I was corrupted long before you came to town."

Bella called Emmett and told him that we were about an hour away. He was glad to hear from us and told Bella that he could barely understand me when I had called. Emmett also mentioned that everyone was excited that I was coming home. I got all nervous again at the thought of having to face so many people by myself, people who expected so much of me.

Bella and I talked on the way home about Christmas break. If I wasn't grounded for the rest of my life, I really wanted to take her on a real date. We had just spent a lot of time alone, but I wanted it to be about us, not me. Because I was a chicken and couldn't tell Bella how I felt, I hoped to be able to somehow show her. Having never been on a date before, I had no idea what we should do. If I opted for the routine dinner and a movie deal, we'd have to drive to Port Angeles. I wasn't even sure I would be allowed to do that on my own after what happened. I'd also have to borrow someone else's car.

On the way past Lake Crescent, I pointed out to where I thought Carlisle had stopped with me to skip rocks. Bella said she recognized the area because he had stopped there before. It must be a favorite rest point for him.

When we reached the Forks police department, I pulled into a parking spot up front and I waited. After a few minutes the door opened, and I watched as Bella walked out with Charlie in tow. He had his arm around her shoulders and he was… oh my, it couldn't be! He was _smiling_. Was I hallucinating? I didn't know Charlie had enough facial muscles to smile. It was an awkward looking smile, too. This smile business—it was new to him, that's for sure.

Through the window I saw Charlie hug Bella and then open the passenger side door for her. She entered the car and sat down, and Charlie closed the door behind her. "Don't go anywhere; he wants to say something to you."

"Oh, great!" I said. "If he shoots me, Jasper will bring me back to life just to kill me himself for ruining the interior of his car."

Bella giggled. "Stop that! Open your window." She nodded past me, and I turned to see Charlie squatting by the door.

I pressed the button for the window, and it slowly rolled down. "Yes, sir? You wanted to speak with me?"

"You had your entire family worried about you," he scolded me. "I know dealing with family crap can be tough, but it's a reality of life. While you were up on ye ol' Cullen Mountain, did you take care of Bella?"

I nodded. "We took care of each other." I felt Bella's hand in mine.

"Family is the same way, Edward." His eyes lingered between the two of us. "You have to take care of one another. When you go home and talk to Esme, remember to stay calm and think before you act. Count to ten if it helps. Don't do anything rash. If you run away with my daughter again, I _will_ put a report out on your ass."

Wait… was that Charlie's version of being nice to me? "I'll be sure to remember what you said. Thank you for the advice, sir."

Charlie huffed and rolled his eyes. "I have a name, why don't you start using it?"

"Okay… Chief… er, Mr. Swan?" I wasn't sure which name he was referring to, and he wasn't being too damn specific.

"It's Charlie, dummy." Whoooooa. Did I hear him right? Did he just give me permission to call him Charlie? "Piss me off and you go back to calling me 'sir' like Peppermint Patty's sidekick Marcie."

And Bella could go 'wha wha wha' like their teacher. Great, I was Marcie to his Peppermint Patty! Now I had to make sure I didn't accidentally call him Patty!

Charlie was snapping his fingers in front of my face. "Edward? You okay?"

"You shocked him, Dad!" Bella squeezed my hand.

"Oh, yeah, sorry," I said. "You were right about the aliens, Bella."

"Are you okay, son?" Charlie leaned in closer. "Have you been drinking?"

"No, Charlie, I haven't been drinking," I said. "Like Bella said, you shocked me with your kindness. Sorry, 'bout that."

"Don't spread around the kindness thing. I have a reputation to protect," he said. Did he just eek out another little smile at me? Charlie Swan? No fucking way. "I have to go back inside, so don't drive off until you're ready. Remember what I said about your family, okay?"

"I will certainly remember your advice." As I rolled up my window I could've sworn I heard Charlie mumbling the words "kiss ass" or "pain in the ass" as he walked away. I wasn't quite sure which. "Bella, this has been one weird night. Is this what they mean about Christmas miracles?"

"No bell ringing or angels getting their wings, but Charlie was genuinely nice to you, so yes, I'd say this was our version of a Christmas miracle." Bella started laughing. "Marcie!"

I was sure she was going to use that nickname every chance she had. Thanks, Charlie!

Before I could go home and face my family, I had to drop Bella off at her house. She explained to me that Charlie wanted her home tonight when he got there, so no sleep over and no support system. I felt sure that I was going to be squeezing my body pillow so tight tonight that it'd be flat like a pancake. When we arrived at Bella's, I put one of the fuel containers back into Charlie's garage. Since I had technically kidnapped his daughter for two days, I gave him the container with more leftover gas in it. It didn't even things out, but it made me feel like I was paying him back for absconding with Bella from his house, even though she had insisted on leaving with me.

After I left Bella safely inside, I didn't hang around for too long. Trust me, I wanted to, but I knew I had to get back home and face the hurt that Esme and I had caused one another. The greenhouse full of butterflies had returned to my stomach, and I seriously felt like I was going to get sick. I tried to push away my troubled stomach and pulled the Mustang over off to the side of the road to text Emmett.

_Be there in a few minutes. Very nervous. Can just you meet me outside? _

Since I didn't want to try texting and driving at the same time, I decided to wait for his response. He replied quickly, not even a minute after my first text.

_I'll be watching for you, but I'm not holding your damn hand. Or your dick._

I knew it sounded cliché, but it was like a wave of happiness had washed over me. When the hell did a Harlequin book sneak into my reading? In spite of what I did—to him and Esme—Emmett was still willing to meet me first. He could have said no and made me face the entire family alone at the same time, but he knew I wasn't up to that. It would have been too damn overwhelming for me and he knew it. I needed to apologize to him again anyway. He risked a lot when he helped me run away—Jasper too for that matter. To know that Emmett still had my back, his black eye and all, was very encouraging. He was still my rock, even though he denied it.

As encouraged as I was over Emmett's agreement, when the car entered the driveway my nervousness returned. I actually stopped halfway down the long ass driveway, cracked the window, and took a deep, calming breath.

That fucking shit didn't help one damn bit. All that "ohm" chanting shit could kiss my scrawny white ass. I was still fucking nervous and ready to throw up all over the interior of Jazz's Mustang. Because of my queasy stomach, I left the window down until I reached the house. I was cold, my teeth were chattering, and my balls were probably blue, but I was a teeny tiny bit less nervous. Teeny bit nervous… yeah, teeny like the size of my dick from the cold Washington weather.

When I reached the house—small, frozen dick and all—the garage door went up on its own. As the door rose, it slowly revealed Emmett standing there off to the side with a huge smile on his face. I was so fucking relieved to see a smile on his face and not a frown. I wasn't sure I could turn a frown of his upside down.

Opening the door, I was surprised by Emmett's big bear hug. "I'm not a roll of Charmin, man! I've got organs!"

Releasing me from his grasp, Emmett glared at me. "Did you say orgasms?"

"With you?" I asked. "Hell no, _organs_, doofus!"

Emmett smiled at me. "Good to see you, moron."

"Yeah, it's good to see you, too," I said. "Thanks for meeting me first. I'm really nervous about this."

"Everyone is excited that you're home," he said. "And I do mean everyone. I know Mom is nervous too. She's afraid of saying anything that would make you run again. You know, she's sorry for what she's done, right? She said she couldn't bring herself to throw out your things. They were here in the garage in a bag. Dad got the info out of her, and I put the stuff back up in your room for you."

"Thanks, man, I appreciate it," I said. "You'll never know how much I appreciated everything you've done for me. The time away to think was a good thing."

Emmett had a big, dopey grin on his face. "You needed me."

"It won't be the last time I need my big brother."

The big dopey grin returned. "I am _not_ helping you with anything illegal," he said. "That is where I draw the line!"

"Fuckin' spoil sport!" I blew a raspberry at him. "I'm sorry about your eye." The bruise had faded and wasn't as bad as I thought it would've been.

"And I'm sorry for slapping you in the face," he said. "It was uncalled for."

"Believe it or not, I think it was what I needed at the moment." Emmett seemed surprised. "Don't look so shocked, doofus." He embraced me again, nearly cutting off the circulation to my brain.

"Okay, I know there's a saying that goes, 'hug it out bitches' but this is just too damn ridiculous!"

I pushed Emmett away and found Jasper standing against the door that led to the house. "Yo, blondie."

"What's shakin', felon?" He came over patted me on the back. "Good to see you again. How'd my ride treat you?"

Retrieving his keys from my pocket, I handed them to him. "She made me nervous as hell going up and down the hill."

Emmett's eyes shifted between the two of us. "That's not code, right? We are talking about Jazz's car and not Bella?"

"Emmett!" Jasper punched my brother in his arm and turned to me. "How'd it go with Charlie at the police station?"

"Guys, the man has totally been taken over by aliens or something," I explained. "He was _nice_ to me. _To me._" I pointed to myself to stress my point. "He told me to call him by his name, but he told me that if I piss him off I have to go back to calling him 'sir' again like Marcie from the Peanuts… oh shit."

"Ha ha!" Emmett said loudly. "New nickname for Eddie!"

I shook my head in disgust. "Oh, fuck me."

"Hell no," Jasper said. "Even if you were lookin' fine in a Marcie costume, which I do _not_ think is possible by the way."

Emmett was trying not to laugh. "Charlie is Peppermint Patty!"

The two fucking nimrods were hunched over the hood of the Mustang laughing. "I wanna be Linus and Alice can be Lucy," Emmett declared.

Jasper wiped a tear away from the corner of his eye. "I guess that leaves me to be Snoopy and Rose is Sally."

"Okay, Marcie," Emmett said, sounding suddenly very serious and so unlike himself. "I think we've had enough time out here."

"Marcie, it's back to reality for you." Jasper said with a smirk before stepping forward and giving me a hug.

"Fuckin' hypocrite!" Emmett said with a laugh.

Jasper made a face at Emmett. "Shut it, Linus! Go play with your blanket."

Emmett laughed. "Oooh, man, that can be our new code word for dick in front of the parents!"

"Come on," I said. "Let's do this." The bit of laughter with Emmett and Jasper before facing everyone else was good for me. "Thanks for helping me, Jazz. Did either one of you get into trouble because of me?"

Emmett paused by the door. "Dad knows we helped you and as far as I know, he didn't tell Mom. I'm not sure she'd be able to handle it right now. Dad was really cool and understanding about everything." His eyes darted to Jasper and then back to me. "I'll fill you in later."

"You pussy, like it's gonna stay a secret for long?" Jasper asked with annoyance. "I'm unofficially a part of this family, too!"

Emmett had gotten serious. "Later, man. Ready, Edward?"

I took another deep breath and released it slowly. "As I'll ever be."

Jasper opened the door, walked into the kitchen, and then stepped off to the side. I was sure Emmett wanted to walk in next to me for support, but there wasn't enough room in the door frame. He stood behind me, one hand on my shoulder, slightly urging me forward with a gentle squeeze of his hand.

Damn it, they were all lined up waiting for me. I felt like I was on death row. The first one in line was Rose. I met her at the counter, and she welcomed me back with a hug. "Good to see you in one piece, Edward."

"Sally, his new nickname is Marcie," Emmett whispered from behind me, and Rose appeared confused. Not being privy to our conversation, I couldn't blame her one bit. Emmett could be confusing enough when he wasn't hiding an inside joke. "I'll explain later."

Content with a hug, Rose went and stood next to her twin, and my eyes met Alice's as she walked toward my direction. "Marcie, huh? I'm going to need an explanation over that one." She stepped forward and wrapped her arms around me. "It's good to have you back. I've missed you."

"I've missed you too, Alice."

"Psst," Emmett said. "It's Lucy."

"Shut it!" Alice was still entangled within my arms. "Save it for later, Linus!"

Alice was standing up on her toes, shaking her head at us, so I leaned down and she kissed my cheek. "Don't scare us like that again!" she warned me in a low whisper.

"Yes, Ma'am!"

Alice let go of me and literally pushed Emmett toward Rose and Jasper. Everyone knew that he was letting her slide him across the floor because there was no way he'd actually move an inch otherwise.

Carlisle was next in line, standing there with a slight smile on his lips from our antics. "I want in on the inside joke sometime too, but for now, get over here." He crooked his finger. I stepped forward and he hugged me, embracing me tightly in his arms. "It's good to have you back, son."

"Good to see you, too." My words sounded muffled against his chest. I struggled to step away from Carlisle, but his arms were still holding me. "Carlisle?"

"Gimme another minute," he said. "I'm not quite ready to let you go yet."

From behind me I heard Alice speak very low. "Emmett, are you crying?"

"No, I've got something in my eye," he said.

"Yeah." Rose's voice uncharacteristically cracked. "It's called tears."

"Jasper, sweetie, stop chanting 'Don't cry' to yourself." Carlisle and I laughed at Alice's words. "It's not working very well."

Carlisle patted me on the back and released me from his hold. I turned to see four pairs of slightly damp looking eyes staring back at me. Jasper cleared his throat and turned his gaze away from us.

I turned back to face Carlisle. "I'm sorry for running away, Dad." I had lowered my voice, but evidently one of my siblings had very acute hearing because I heard Alice gasp.

"I know you are," he said. "I hope you took the time to think about things while you were away."

"I did," I confessed. "Bella played shrink to my messed up mind."

Carlisle shook his head at me. "You're _not_ messed up. You have a lot of stuff on your plate. More than any person your age should have to deal with."

"I _feel_ messed up though."

"You're not," he insisted, but I wasn't so sure. "If talking helped you, then let me know if you want to talk to a professional. Therapists can help. Maybe it'd be a good idea if you and your mother went to a session together to work on a few things."

"I'll think about it, but I'm not too keen on letting some stranger know everything about me," I confessed.

"That's the beauty of the person being a stranger," Carlisle said. "They don't know you and they don't judge. They help you work through your issues."

"I'll think about it." I knew I didn't sound too damn convincing. Besides talking with Bella, therapy was something I had never done before and probably had some badly formed preconceived notions about it. "Where is Esme? I'd like to see her."

"Are you sure?" He sounded skeptical. "You can wait until tomorrow."

"It's Christmas Eve; we should all be together in some fashion, right? Don't you normally do something tonight?" I asked.

Carlisle… he frowned. Yes, that was it. He actually frowned. "Esme's parents and Tony and his family usually come over, but we thought it'd be too much right now."

"Please tell me that Esme's parents are the set of normal grandparents in this family." I pleaded. "They're not messed up too, are they?"

"No, actually, they are really nice and normal," he confessed. "I hope you'll find that you're comfortable enough to meet them soon. They're anxious to meet you."

"Why don't they come out during break?" I shrugged. "I've got the time to deal with emotional baggage now until school starts again."

Carlisle smiled. "I'll call them later on and see what they can do. Would you be up for Tony and his family tomorrow afternoon?"

"Yeah, I've met them before, so it should be okay. There might be a few minutes of awkwardness with the new family vibe," I said. "But they should be cool."

"Tomorrow morning we're going to go to the hospital if you're up to it."

"Oh yeah," I said. "Emmett told me about that. You give out presents and stuff to the kids, right?"

"Yes, that's right." Carlisle's eyes shifted to behind me for a moment before he met my eyes again. "We have an elf costume for you if you want to go with us. If not, you can stay home or go over to Bella's and spend some time getting to know Charlie better." At the mention of Charlie's name, Carlisle actually smirked.

I really tried not to, but I rolled my eyes. "Let's see, my options are home by myself, elf, or alien-abducted Charlie Swan." I could see that Carlisle was confused about the alien part in regards to Charlie. "I think I'll try the elf thing." Carlisle was shaking his head at me. "Oh, wait, no, no, that costume, it ain't like a pair of tights or anything? I'm not going to be suited up like Peter Pan or some crap, am I? I ain't wearin' a pair of tights showin' all my junk to the entire world!"

I heard laughter behind me. It was the loud, obnoxious laughter of my siblings and their other halves. Without turning around, I raised my hand to them. "Oh, shut up, yous!"

"No…" Carlisle's voice cracked, and he started laughing like the others. "No junk show."

"Glad to hear it," I said. "Where's Esme?" I was still very nervous, but I didn't want to put off talking to her much longer.

"She's in the back room."

She had probably overheard our entire conversation. I hoped she hadn't heard me call Carlisle 'Dad'. I wasn't sure if she could handle that. Carlisle turned to escort me into the back room, and my eyes met Esme's at the foot of the stairs, one hand on the railing. I blinked, making sure I wasn't seeing things, and we took each other in for a moment. Her eyes were red from crying and her hair wasn't done nicely as I had always seen it. She wasn't even dressed in her usual manner. Frankly, I was surprised Alice had let her get away with that. Seeing her on the verge of tears and, well, a mess because of me, was quite an eye opener. I didn't like it that I had caused pain to the woman who had given me life, even if she had lied to me and betrayed my trust. It made me feel guilty. And I hated that.

Taking Charlie's advice, I started to count to ten, but Esme's voice interrupted my silent counting when I reached five.

"Hi." The word barely escaped her lips as she forced herself to choke the greeting out. She was shaking slightly, and a tear slid down her cheek. She was as nervous as I was, maybe even more so because she had been ready to escape upstairs. I could feel Carlisle following a few paces behind me as I rushed over to her. He stopped as I seized her in my arms.

"I'm sorry," I said.

I felt Esme's arms clinging to me, her head nestled against my chest with tears flowing freely down her cheeks. "I'm sorry, too."

I continued to hold her and felt Carlisle against my side, one arm wrapped around each of us. Esme was still in my arms, her tears now under some semblance of control, when Emmett appeared on my other side and mimicked Carlisle's actions. Soon enough, Alice, Jasper, and Rose joined us in one big hug circle.

As the minutes passed, the air began to feel heavy and stale. "People, we need oxygen in here!"

Even Esme laughed at my comment as everyone slowly peeled back from us. "Can we talk?" I asked.

"I think that's a good idea," she said, keeping her tears at bay.

Before he left, Carlisle brought in a new box of tissues for Esme. She had gone through the last box, its reminders in a plastic bag on the table. I wondered how many boxes of tissues she had gone through while I had been gone. Esme and I went into the living room, where the seating was more comfortable, to talk. The others went upstairs to give us some privacy.

For the first time, I noticed the twinkling of white lights behind Esme and took in the Christmas tree by the fire place. "Who did the tree?" I asked.

"Actually, Rose and Jasper went and put it up for me," she said. "I came downstairs yesterday morning and it was all decked out." Esme shut her eyes and squeezed them together.

"They did a good job," I said. "It looks pretty."

"I know." She opened her eyes and looked at me. "I'm sorry that I said I threw your things out," she apologized. "When I saw the picture it was turned upside down, but I thought it was something else. I…I thought it was a project for school or maybe a picture of Bella. When I flipped it over and saw that it was you and the Masens… I got very angry and jealous. I missed out on so many years with you that I'll never get back, and they got to have those experiences with you. I acted so unlike myself and went through your room and removed things that I should've never touched because they were yours. It wasn't right and I'm sorry I did what I did."

"That day… it was the first time I had even looked at the picture since I brought it home. I felt like I was betraying you and Carlisle for even having it in my possession," I explained. "I didn't even want you to know I had it, so I kept it hidden in the drawer."

"Can I ask, what's the story with the pocket watch, blanket, and money?" She was timid questioning me about the items.

"The pocket watch is Peter's and he asked that I return it to Liz or his court appointed attorney. It was his father's." Esme nodded with understanding at the importance of the item. "Liz made the blanket for me years ago. I was having such a hard time sleeping here at first, and I thought it'd help me because it was familiar. I found the watch in Peter's nightstand at the house along with the money. Back when I took it, I didn't know why I grabbed the money. I knew I wouldn't need it for myself. I'd like to give the money to Liz when she's released to help her get back on her feet."

She nodded and blinked slowly, dabbing the corner of her eyes with a tissue. "I think that's a fantastic idea, honey," she said. "It's not much, but it's better than having nothing at all. Can I ask you a question?" I nodded my head. "How did you get those things anyway?"

"Don't be mad at him," I said nervously. "The day I stayed home from school, the day I came out of the woods and found you and we had the 'baby steps' convo?"

She nodded at her memories of the day. "When I thought you ran away, but you didn't?"

"Yeah, _that's_ the day." I sighed. "I was bored and called Charlie because I had a few things at the old house that were mine that I needed. My backpack was there with my school work and a few other items. I deceived Charlie and removed the other items as well."

"I thought you broke into the house," she admitted. "Or Emmett did for you."

"Hey! No illegal activities for me!" We looked up at the direction of Emmett's voice and found everyone on the third story landing, their gazes transfixed on us. And I do mean everyone; even Carlisle was there, one hand clapped over Emmett's big mouth.

"I do believe we're being watched," I declared. "They must not trust us to be alone together."

"I think we're doing okay so far."

"Get outta here, you peepin' toms!" I yelled up to them and Esme laughed. Everyone disappeared from our view. "They're probably just out of sight, but still eavesdropping."

"I wouldn't put it past them." Esme smiled at me. "I promise to give you more space. It's just that… I admit it, I'm jealous of the closeness you have with everyone else. I'm overly eager to get to know you."

"I'm sorry about that," I said. "I don't know why things are the way they are with me and everyone else. I'm sorry that I've gravitated more toward Carlisle. I can't help it that I feel more comfortable with him. Liz and I were close and now I don't have that relationship with her. What I did have with Peter and Liz was good though. All three of us talked and joked around with each other. The two of them were all I had before I opened myself up to the idea of having friends here in Forks. I don't know if that's the invisible barrier with us or not. I will try my best not to shut you out of my life from now on."

"Thank you for giving me another chance." Her eyes barely met mine as she spoke. "You don't know how much it means to me."

"You never gave up on me." Esme's eyes met mine, and I noticed how blood shot they were. There were dark circles under her eyes, and I wondered if she had gotten any sleep recently. "You were the one that knew I was yours."

"I just did," she admitted sheepishly. "He didn't say it outright, but I know Carlisle thought I was crazy."

"Esme, have you read _The Odyssey_?" She shook her head no, so I continued. "I borrowed the book from Carlisle; it's actually a Greek poem dating back to somewhere like 1178 B.C. Odysseus went off to fight in the Trojan War which spanned ten years. It took him another ten years to get back home to his wife Penelope because the Gods kept messing with him. Penelope waited _twenty_ years for her husband to return home. She never, ever gave up hope that he'd return alive someday, even with all the suitors lined up wanting to marry her. Don't you see? You're like Penelope. You _never_ gave up on me returning home. For god sakes, you kept a room for me, even after all this time. You waited seventeen years to meet me, and what did I do? I've essentially blocked your efforts at every turn. I'm dealing with a lot of stuff, but I don't think I've been very fair to you."

"You blocked me because I pushed you and I'm sorry if you felt that way" she said. "If I start to do that again, you have to tell me, okay? I might not realize I'm doing it."

"Sounds like a plan." Those butterflies returned to my stomach as I thought about my next words to her. What I had to tell her was important though, so I had to get it out. "I have to tell you something, and I realize it may hurt your feelings," I chose my words cautiously, afraid of making her cry again. "But I think it's important that you hear me out and try to understand me. I know you are biologically my mother, but unfortunately, you even admitted that we lost out on a lot of time together. We can't go back, but we can move forward and have some type of relationship. I don't know how much of myself I can give to you. In all honesty, you might have to settle for us being friends. Liz was always there for me physically and emotionally and up until not even two weeks ago, she was my mother and I didn't know any differently. A part of me will probably always love her and I don't think I can change that." I watched as Esme fought back more tears. "She had nothing to do with what happened and really thought I was her own. I would like to support her because she has no one else to turn to. At the same time, I'll try my best to build a relationship with you. It may not be entirely what you want, or the perfect example of a mother-son relationship, but you brought me into this world and I feel like I owe you the effort."

She swallowed hard before opening her mouth to speak. "I must say, Peter and Liz _did_ an excellent job raising you. You're an articulate, caring, intelligent young man and you have a good head on your shoulders."

"Oh, would you two mushies hug again already!" We both raised our heads at the sound Carlisle's voice, once again perched on the third story landing with everyone else. Not being able to contain myself any longer, I busted out in laughter.

"You're a horrible, horrible peeping tom, dear!" Esme yelled up to him before she joined me in a fit of giggles.

"They should've just stayed down here and played referees for us." I tried to imagine all of them down here watching as the sound of their footsteps traveling down the stairs echoed throughout the silent house. "No, I was nervous enough as it was trying to talk with you. Besides, I don't know if I could handle watching Jasper get all teary eyed."

"I was nervous seeing you again, too." Esme admitted.

They all piled into the living room, and Carlisle sat down at Esme's other side while the rest of them sat on the couch opposite us. "I'm not teary eyed!" Jasper said.

"Noooo, your eyes are slightly blood shot for no reason at all," Alice teased. "Ain't no crime for a man to cry."

"It's a Man Code Violation!" I supplied. "It's a Class 4 Man Code Violation. Section 2, Paragraph 5, Subsection 14. It's a big no no. Right, Jazz?"

"Now he's quoting me!" Jasper laughed. "You got it right."

"I'm an articulate, caring, intelligent young man with a good head on my shoulders." I stuck my tongue out at him. "My mommy even says so."

Esme leaned back into Carlisle and started laughing. The doorbell rang, and I wondered who it could be at this time of night. I prayed it wasn't Charlie having second thoughts and ready to arrest me for stealing his daughter.

"Food!" Emmett declared, hurrying over to the door and answering it.

"Emmett couldn't decide what to get, so we ordered both pizza and Chinese," Esme explained. "I wasn't in the mood to cook."

"I know how much you hate that." Esme took pride in cooking for her family.

"Hey, Dad, they're both here at the same time and I'm outta cash. I need another ten! Pay up ol' man!" Emmett shouted from the doorway.

Carlisle got up and headed to the door. "You're going to eat most of it, it's only right you pay for most of it," Carlisle mumbled.

Alice, Jasper, and Rose were on the couch, still watching us. "Lucy, Sally, and Snoopy, why don't you go set the table?"

Jasper rose from the couch. "Come on, girls."

Alice and Rose got up and followed Jasper into the kitchen. "What the heck is he talking about? Why do we suddenly have new nicknames now?" Alice asked in confusion.

Jasper put an arm around each of the girls. "We'll fill you in later, babe."

I chuckled and turned back to Esme. "Are we better now?"

"I'd like to think so," she said. "I just want to know you, Edward."

"I think we can work on that," I admitted. "That's part of the friendship package."

"I want to be a mother to you, but if I have to settle for friendship, I'd rather settle than push you away and not have you in my life at all." Her hand, which had been resting along the back of the couch, reached up and touched my hair. "You need a haircut. I can tell you the names of the places in town. Maybe Carlisle or Emmett can take you."

"I have a better idea." I reached up and removed her hand from my hair. Whenever Bella ran her hands through my hair it always got me going. I did not need to get an erection while sitting on the couch with my own mother. I held her hand in mine instead. "Why don't we start with lunch and a haircut?"

"I'd like that, if you're really up for it," she smiled. "Emmett and I used to do that all the time."

"It's din-din time, you two!" Emmett said from the kitchen. "Get your butts in here before I eat it all!"

"Let's go grab some grub," I said. "I know Emmett's not kidding about eating it all."

We joined the rest of the family in the dining room for a later than usual dinner. It felt good to be back with them around the dining room table, laughing at Emmett's jokes and Jasper's bloodshot eyes. Everyone asked about the new Peanuts character references, so I explained my earlier talk with Charlie. "Who's Bella then?" Esme asked.

"She can be Pig Pen!" Emmett suggested between bites of food.

Alice appeared as if she was going to throw her fork at Emmett. "I'm _so_ telling her that so she can castrate you!"

"Well, what other female Peanuts characters are there?" he asked.

"She doesn't have to be a female character," Rose said. "Look at Marcie over there."

"Yeah, and Jasper chose to be Snoopy," I said. "We got some bestiality going on now in the family."

Carlisle shook his head at my comment and tried not to laugh. "So, who are me and Esme?"

"The only other characters I can think of are the teacher, Charlie Brown, Pig Pen, and the freakin' little yellow bird." The others nodded their heads, and no one else answered with any other character names. "We might actually have to research this."

When we were finished with dinner, I helped Esme clean up. Since we had take-out, it was a quick task. We put the utensils and plates in the dishwasher and fit the few leftovers that managed to survive Emmett's clutches into the fridge. Esme called her parents and they were going to look into booking a flight within the next few days. Carlisle was currently on the phone with Tony, informing him that I had returned home and questioned him if it wasn't too late for him and his family to come over tomorrow for Christmas. Tony put Carlisle on hold while he checked with Jan. He put his hand over the mouth piece of the phone and spoke to me, "Always remember to check with the wife or girlfriend over important matters," he said. "Or risk losing an appendage."

"Sound fatherly advice, Carlisle."

Esme chuckled from her seat next to me at the counter. "Your father has been threatened with a butcher knife a few times."

"Oh, so he sometimes makes stupid decisions, too, huh?"

Esme shrugged her shoulders and smiled. "He's human."

"Damn, I got that from him too," I laughed.

Carlisle finished speaking with Tony and hung up the phone. "It's a good thing they were ready to come over anyway. Since we have to leave early to go to the hospital, they're going to leave to get here early and get the turkey started. Tony has a spare key to the house."

Esme gasped. "I never got the turkey started! It's not thawed out."

"Don't worry about it." Carlisle patted Esme's hand reassuringly. "Jan asked about that, and she's bringing the one she had thawed out."

"Crisis averted!" I said. "Do you have anything ready for tomorrow?"

"No, I should do some prep work before I go to bed." Esme stared at the counter and thumped her fingers across it. "There's so much to do."

"I'll help so it goes by faster," I offered. "You're tired."

"I need to do something real quick with everyone first," Carlisle said. "You two go in the living room. I need to get everyone else."

Confused by Carlisle's behavior, Esme and I went into the living room and sat on the couch. The others came downstairs and questioned Carlisle's motives for bringing us all together again. Esme didn't even seem to know what was going on. Carlisle came back downstairs with two large wrapped boxes in his arms, one bigger than the other. They were evidently Christmas presents, but the shape of the boxes made them appear to be for clothes, not presents. Esme smiled when she saw the boxes, and I knew she realized what Carlisle was up to. He walked over to Esme and she took the top box, which was smaller than the one Carlisle still held.

"We normally exchange presents with my brother's family tonight and with each other tomorrow, but these are two important gifts that Esme and I need to give out tonight." Carlisle walked over to Emmett and handed him the box.

Emmett took it and glanced around the room as if someone was going to clue him in on what was going on. Receiving no answers, he tore at the paper, balling it together neatly before placing it on the coffee table in front of him. He tentatively opened the box, removing the lid, and placing it next to the discarded wrapping paper. As he pushed the tissue paper aside, he smiled. "Dad, are you for real?"

"Yes, it's your turn, Emmett," Carlisle said. "I'm retiring."

I was so fucking clueless it wasn't funny. What was up with the retiring bit? Getting up, I walked over to Emmett to see for myself what the hell was in the box. "What is that?" I asked at the sight of the red and white fabric inside the box.

"It's my turn to be Santa Claus for the kids," he said. "Dad's always been Santa."

"I think you're ready for it now," Carlisle said. "I'm passing the tradition on to you."

Esme walked over to Rose and handed her the smaller box. "Rose, honey, this is for you."

"No way!" Rose smiled and tore through the wrapping paper faster than Emmett. Inside the box was more red and white fabric.

"Mrs. Claus, I presume?" I asked curiously. Every Santa needed his Misses, right?

Rose removed her costume out of the box and looked at it, holding it up against her. My mind wandered and I imagined Bella is a kinky, short, ass-showing Mrs. Claus outfit. I had a growing present for my Mrs. Claus alright. _Shit, Edward, stop thinking perverted thoughts in front of your family._

Rose hugged and thanked Esme. Emmett was so excited that he tried on his costume right there in the living room. I didn't have any doubt that Emmett would do an excellent job tomorrow with the kids.

Alice, Rose, and I helped Esme in the kitchen prepare a few things for the next day so they could just be thrown in the oven. The work went quicker that way, and we talked a bit to pass time. She explained that she normally decorated the house for Christmas much earlier, but this year was different. With so much going on, she had her mind on other things like, well, me and bringing me home.

"Alice kept on bugging me about decorating," she said. "I normally start the week after Thanksgiving. I knew we were going to be able to bring you home soon, but I didn't know exactly when. This may sound odd, but I wasn't sure if the decorations would bother you or not, so I waited. I was going to put them up Monday. I even started to drag a few things out, but I got distracted."

"We don't have to go there again." Esme kept her gaze down at the green bean casserole she was making. "I don't know if the decorations would have bothered me or not. We never decorated much for the holidays. We traveled real light. I never even realized you hadn't put up a tree. How observant am I?"

Quite pathetically unobservant it seemed. Even with simple Christmas decorations, Esme was worried if I'd be bothered over them. It bugged me how much she worried over the simple and small things, but that's what mother's did, right? At least the good ones, I thought.

Finished with our tasks for the night, I hugged Esme and wished her a good night before going upstairs. "I think it will be, now that you're home again."

I headed straight to the bathroom, brushed my teeth, and stripped to my boxers. I had noticed that Esme was tired, but now I found that I was fighting to keep my eyelids open. When I walked back into my room and turned to throw my clothes in the hamper by my closet, I jumped. "It's a good thing I don't walk around my room naked."

"You don't know how glad I am about that," Carlisle said, standing in the open doorway. "I mean, like, really, really glad. Seriously."

"I get the idea," I said. "What's up?"

"Can we talk for a minute?"

"Sure." I drew the covers back on my bed before I sat down and covered my lap with the blankets. Not because of Carlisle, because it was winter in Washington and even though the house was well heated, I was almost naked and I was a bit chilly. "What's on your mind?"

Closing the door, he walked over and sat down on the edge of my bed. "So, Marcie-"

"Aw, man, no one is going to let me live that down!"

"Sorry!" He laughed before continuing. "I wanted to let you know that before I knew for sure where you were, I came in here and tried to search for any clues to your whereabouts. I'm sorry for going through your things, but I was afraid for your safety and well being. I saw the notebook that I gave you sitting on your nightstand." He nodded to it, and I turned to see it still sitting there but in a different position than I remembered. "I looked through it to see if you would have mentioned anything to help us in finding you. I wanted you to know about what I did, and I'm sorry for invading your privacy like that. At the time, I thought I had a valid reason for going through your private thoughts."

I took a few seconds to digest what Carlisle told me before I spoke. "I don't think it bothers me that you went through my things and looked at the notebook because you were worried about where I was. It really bugged me that Esme went through my things—and removed them—because she was jealous and wanted to get rid of them. The reasoning is different. Your reasoning is way more rational to me."

"I wanted to let you know because I didn't like reading your notebook," he said. "Though, it did give me a little peek into your mind."

"It's a scary place, I know." I chuckled.

"Not as scary as you think," Carlisle said. "More like confused and turned upside down. I'm sorry for reading your inner most thoughts."

"I'm not even using it like you had intended."

"You are," he insisted. "You're using the notebook in the way that's helping you. You don't have to write huge journal entries and go on for pages about things. Instead, you put down quick notes to remind you of the bigger picture. It still works."

"Thanks for being honest with me, I appreciate it." While he was here and we were alone, I figured I'd ask him something that was on my mind about him. "Can I ask you something?" He nodded, so I continued. "How were you able to remain so calm when I ran away? I thought you'd sick the cops on us."

"Emmett wondered the same thing, so I had to talk to him about this too," he said. "I told you about my mother, but what I didn't tell you was that one day, I caught Tony trying to leave. I wanted to go with him, but instead, I helped him run away because I knew he needed time to himself to escape things."

"Wow… so, Emmett did what you did all those years ago?"

"Yup, and I couldn't fault him for that," Carlisle said. "Your mother doesn't know certain things yet. I'd like to break the news that Emmett helped you, so keep your lips zipped for now, k?" I nodded silently in agreement. "I knew something was up because Emmett and Jasper were acting more strangely than usual. I confronted Emmett and he cracked. I understood your need to get away and once Emmett spilled his guts, I sent you the message about Kalaloch Lodge. It was better knowing where you were, but I wished you were closer. Are you feeling better about things?"

"Yeah, I think so," I said. "If you didn't overhear it, you freakin' peepin' toms, basically I'm going to try a little harder and she's not going to try so hard."

"Sounds like a good compromise."

"I hope so." I really wasn't sure if our second chance was going to be any better than our first. Yawning, I rubbed my eyes. "I also told her that I'd like to support Liz because she doesn't have anyone else. Deep down, I know Esme doesn't agree with that. I could tell by the look on her face. I… I just can't let go completely, ya know?"

"There's no shame in that, Edward. I hate my mother for what she's done, but some part of me will always wish that things had ended up differently with her." He looked so sad when he mentioned Camilla. "You don't have to say good-bye forever to Liz. A word of advice though—whatever type of relationship you end up having with Liz, please don't shove it in your mother's face. It hurts her enough knowing she might have to settle for a type of friendship with you."

"Oh, no! I wouldn't do that." I was ready to fall asleep and I think Carlisle realized it. "That wouldn't be fair to Esme and I'd be pushing her away and I don't want to do that again."

"I'm glad to hear that. Lay down, huh?" I stretched out on my bed, and Carlisle spread the blankets over me. "We have a long day tomorrow, so get a good night's rest." Leaning down, he brushed back the mess of hair on my forehead and his lips touched my brow. "Good night, son."

"'Night, Dad."

I barely registered him turning off the light and closing the door behind him. For a moment, my life was a blur and I flashed back to a memory of when I was seven and Peter and Liz had tucked me in to bed. But I wasn't seven, I was seventeen and my biological father just tucked me in to go to sleep for the first time in both of our lives. And I was comforted by that thought. Sleep came quickly that night, and I didn't even need to squeeze the hell out of my body pillow.

* * *

**A/N:** Like it? Yeah, no?

And can I ask where everyone is coming from again?? I'm seeing a big influx of story alerts, some new reviewers, but have no idea where you've found out about _Legacy_. I'm not recc'd on blogs or sites, but more by word of mouth, so it just makes me wonder.

Off I go to try to figure out what I'm doing for Chapter 35... cuz it's not all in my head yet. Yes, this is being posted as I write it, no backlog of chapters are being held ransom in a storage facility somewhere in a Nevada desert. Or is that dessert? Get those two fuckers mixed up spelling wise (trust me, I know which is the one you have after diner, if you saw me, you'd know I have a sweet tooth). I'm tired and I seem to have verbal diarrhea like Edward and Carlisle. Thank God for the spell checker in Firefox because I so screwed up the spelling of diarrhea just then.

What?


	35. Christmastime

**A/N: **Once again it's been a while and I apologize. For the longest time I couldn't get this chapter out of me no matter how hard I tried. I started it and contemplated starting over because it wasn't clicking with me. The good news? Chapter 35 ended up being one of the larger chapters, clocking in at 9,300 plus words and twenty one pages in Word. Many thanks to Forever_Liz for pre-reading and telling me I was on the right track. As always, big hugs and kisses to my beta Bridget.

During my… uh, sabbatical, I also wrote the beginnings of two other stories. The links to _Drifting into Your Lane_ and _The Beauty, the Geek, and the Danseur_ can be found on my profile page at ff[dot]net and are **not** posted at Twilighted.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Twilight... just the DVD and book.

* * *

**Chapter 35: Christmastime**

The bed shifted and a loud ass noise rudely awakened me out of my deep, peaceful sleep. "Ho, ho, ho, wake the fuck up, Edward!"

My bed, and myself, bounced up and down and I slowly opened my eyes. "What the hell?" Moving back toward the wall, I craned my neck back to catch the time on the clock—five o'clock in the morning. I rubbed my eyes and yawned deeply. It was clearly too fucking early in the morning for this shit.

"Ho, ho, ho!"

I strained my eyes and searched out for the sound of the loud, obnoxious noise. Half asleep, I jumped—if you could call it that since I was in bed—at the sight of Emmett sitting on the side of my bed. He was wearing a pair of Christmas-themed pajama bottoms, a Santa hat, gray beard, glasses, and was bare chested. "Ho fucking ho to you too," I said, lying back down and placing my arm over my face. "I don't even get up this early for school. Stop acting like a five year old and go back to bed," I whined.

Pulling the blankets back up to my chest, I rolled over and faced the wall, wishing that my temporarily insane brother would go back to sleep.

"Emmett!" Carlisle's hushed but urgent voice was coming from the door. "Leave your brother alone for at least another hour or so please!"

"Thank you!" I groaned out, and my lids fell back over my tired eye balls.

"I swear boy, you are a five year old trapped in an eighteen-year old's body." I laughed at Carlisle's comment to Emmett. "If you're so awake, go help your mother downstairs."

Emmett mentioned, with much enthusiasm, something about Esme's baking, my door clicked shut, and thankfully I zonked out.

For a half hour. I fell back to sleep for a full freakin' thirty minutes.

"Emmett, I could kill you," I mumbled to myself. I stayed in bed, willing myself back to sleep, but my body wouldn't have it. It was going to be a damn long ass day. As I was lying in bed, I rolled over and saw the bags of presents in the corner. "Oh, shit, I gotta wrap you suckers."

Stretching both my arms and legs for an incredibly long time, I got up from the comfort of my warm bed and sat on the floor by the bags. I went through them and slowly wrapped them as neatly as possible. Finding the pictures from Chinook, I put them in their appropriate frames and wrapped them for Carlisle, Esme, and Alice. I now knew of one job I would never, ever be able to apply for and bluff my way through. Never would I be able to land a job as a gift wrapper at one of those high end department stores. Oh hell no, not unless the person hiring employees was high. I was grateful that I had few presents I actually had to wrap and no big, huge ones. Since most of the items were odd shaped, I settled for gift bags and tissue paper because it was easier. The few things I had to wrap—like the picture frames—looked downright ugly as sin. I should have grabbed more gift boxes!

I showered and hoped the water would wake me up more, but it didn't. I still felt like death warmed over by the time I decided to go downstairs. Not knowing when we were exchanging presents, I left everything upstairs for the time being. When I reached the second floor my nose was assaulted by the aroma of Esme's baking. No wonder Emmett agreed to go downstairs, though I couldn't see him helping Esme—more like eating everything in sight as soon as it cooled off enough.

He really surprised the hell out of me when I rounded the corner to the kitchen and I spotted him sitting at the counter removing globs of cookie dough from a large mixing bowl and dumping them onto a cookie sheet. "Merry Christmas," I said, plopping down on the stool next to my brother. "Wake me up that early next year and I'll kill you."

Esme, who previously had her back to me, turned in my direction and removed the cookie sheet from in front of Emmett. "Good morning and Merry Christmas, Edward." She was humming some Christmas tune and smiling, so I was happy that she seemed happy. "I heard you got the Emmett Cullen Christmas Morning Wake up Call."

"Yeah, I couldn't go back to sleep," I explained. "Where's everyone else?"

"Carlisle is cleaning the driveway a bit because it snowed a little last night," she said. "And the others are sleeping."

I slapped Emmett on the arm. "But you _had_ to wake me up!"

Emmett smiled at me. "You're new here, kid," he said with a wink. "You don't know the routine."

Esme placed another cookie sheet in front of Emmett. "He's done that to the rest of them. Alice has threatened to castrate him, so she doesn't get bothered now. Last year Jasper wasn't here, but he's in Alice's room, so that nixes waking him up."

"What about Rose?" I asked. It was now about six-thirty in the morning and while I wasn't hungry, I'd be damned if that that cookie dough looked really, really good.

"Ha!" Emmett laughed. "Forget about just castration. Rose would cut off all my man bits and then kill me if I woke her up early."

"Well then, next year, consider yourself threatened already by me!"

"You, dear brother, are such a spoil sport!" Emmett stuck his tongue out, grabbed a scoop of cookie dough, and put it in his mouth.

"No, I'm not a spoil sport," I said. "I don't appreciate being woken up at five in the morning for nothing!"

Esme, whose back was turned to us again, interrupted my train of thought. "Emmett, stop eating all the dough!"

"But how… huh?" Emmett seemed more confused than usual. "How'd you know?"

Esme removed a pan from the oven and turned to us. "You just told me! Ha!"

I sat and laughed at Emmett. "Busted!"

As it turned out, Esme had suspected that Emmett had been pilfering the dough but didn't have any proof until he admitted it himself. Without her admission—and if I hadn't already know better—she would've totally enforced the entire "mothers have eyes in the back of their heads" charade.

Esme must've been awake early, making every type of cookie I ever heard of and some I hadn't. They all looked and smelled delicious. "Do you make all this from scratch?" I asked. While I had enjoyed our time in the kitchen together, we hadn't done much baking. I mostly helped her with dinner-type preparations.

"A few of them are from scratch," she said. "Others are from mixes. The apple pie is totally from scratch."

"Oh, Mom's apple pie!" Emmett appeared to be salivating at just the mention of the dessert. "It is _so_ freakin' awesome."

Esme laughed at Emmett's admission. "I usually start baking earlier than Christmas morning. I'm not going to find the time to make everything I normally do."

"Oh, Mom, Mom, you gotta make the chocolate balls!" There he was again—five–year-old Emmett begging our mommy for cookies.

"Honey, I'm not going to have the time this morning. They're too time consuming." Emmett pouted at her words. "I'll make them for you soon though, okay?"

"In light of recent events, I can understand that," he said, back to sounding like an eighteen year old. "I love those suckers and you don't make 'em enough." Yeah, that last sentence, it was a mixture of the five-year-old and eighteen-year-old silly, big-hearted brother I had come to love.

Carlisle came in from dealing with snow removal and joined us in the kitchen. The three of us helped Esme—when we weren't sneaking dough or the fresh out of the oven goodness—and before long, I could hear the tale tell sign of a shower running upstairs. Alice bounced downstairs first, all bright eyed, bushy tailed, and far too damn cheery for that time in the morning.

Yeah, that was because, unlike me, she was able to sleep in for an extra two hours. "Merry Christmas, everyone!" she sang as she walked into the kitchen. Being that I was the closest to her, she came over and gave me a hug first. "I'm really glad you came back," she whispered. "It wouldn't have been the same without you.

"Hey, where's my hug?" Emmett asked with a pout.

Alice pretended to punch him in the head before settling into his arms for a massive hug. Rose and Jasper came downstairs soon after, greeting us much like Alice had.

"I could use a nap." I proclaimed to no one in particular.

Jasper laughed at my admission. "You received the Emmett Cullen Christmas Morning Wake up Call, huh?"

"That is correct, and now I'm paying the price," I said. "One day, he too shall pay the price of waking me up early!"

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

I rubbed my eyes and shrugged. "I'll be damned if I know. It sounded good in my head."

As soon as Esme was done with baking and had announced that she was making breakfast, Rose and Jasper shooed her out of the kitchen. It was their plan to make Christmas breakfast for everyone. Since Jasper was even less proficient in the kitchen than Emmett, I helped so we would eat sometime that morning. Jasper more or less cleaned up while Rose and I did the cooking. Even after all the goodies he had managed to sneak, Emmett ate heartily. Just where in the hell did he put it all?

"Are we going to exchange gifts this morning or later on?" I asked in between bites of waffle, sausage, and egg.

"We were hoping to be able to exchange gifts this morning, but I don't think there's going to be enough time," Carlisle said. "We can wait until later when we're all together. Santa can't be late for the kids!"

"Okay, it doesn't matter to me, I was just wondering when I should bring everything downstairs," I explained. "I can totally see my five-year-old brother here trying to find his gifts and opening them early."

"Well, I never!" Emmett huffed a little too over dramatically.

"Not since he was ten," Esme said with a laugh. "That I know of at least!"

While we finished breakfast and loaded the dishwasher, Aunt Jan called and said that they were almost there. When they arrived, they were going to let themselves in and do whatever it was that needed to be done. Carlisle retrieved the elf costumes, and I wondered how he knew what size to get for me, but then I realized that Alice must've filled him in. When I saw the costumes, I cringed and bit my tongue. They looked so freaking stupid it wasn't funny. I kept in mind what we were doing was for a good cause. It was for sick little kids who were stuck in the hospital at Christmastime, and we were trying to bring a ray of sunshine into their day for just a little while. The more I repeated those words to myself, the dumber the costumes looked. I was eternally grateful that there were no leggings for me and Jasper. On the other hand, Alice's bottom half of her costume was compromised of skin tight leggings and a short skirt, and I wondered if Bella had the same costume.

_Dear God, it's me, Edward Cullen. Please, let Bella have the same tight fitting costume as Alice. Amen and all that good shit, Lord._

I was _so_ going to hell.

I went with Carlisle and Esme in his car while everyone else piled into Emmett's Jeep. Bella and Charlie—yes—Charlie, Mr. Smiles-Not-A-Lot, was going to be at the hospital for the kids and would meet us there. As it turned out, I later learned that Charlie had an important role for the day. We waited and changed into our costumes at the hospital and I was thankful that Bella's costume was almost like Alice's with one main difference. The skirt on Bella's outfit was a tad bit longer than Alice's and I knew why, but when I saw Bella in her costume for the first time I'm sure I grinned like the horny teenage boy that I was. Actually, I know I did because Charlie actually spotted me staring and smacked me in the back of the head. "Stop drooling at my daughter in front of me," he warned. "It's a whole entire level of weird that I can't handle right now."

I apologized profusely and wiped my mouth and chin for good measure since I had a bad habit of at least feeling like I was drooling while around Bella. We waited in a room down the hallway from where the nurses were assembling most of the kids in a playroom. Charlie was there under the guise that he was there to read them a story for Christmas. He introduced himself to the kids as the Chief of Police and before he was able to start the story, a two way radio which he pretended was his police radio went off announcing that something was wrong at the roof of the hospital. Down the hallway, Carlisle had the other radio and pretended to be the deputy calling into Charlie. Across the room Rose gently batted at some bells, and Emmett talked like Santa Claus to invisible reindeer, complete with a couple of "ho ho hos" for good measure.

I stood there watching and wished I could've seen Carlisle portray Santa. Then again, if Emmett was emulating Carlisle, then maybe I was seeing both of them wrapped into one.

Carlisle and Esme went down the hallway, running excitedly to the playroom, telling the kids that they had seen Santa Claus and he was headed their way. Emmett left the room first, and it was hard to keep up with his enthusiasm as we hurried behind him with our toy-filled bags down the hallway. We trailed behind, half running to keep up with him, and I couldn't help but smile when I walked into the room and saw those kids' faces. They were so happy to see Santa, and Emmett was fully playing the part. Carlisle and Esme stood off to the side, watching us interact with the kids. One of the kids had asked Emmett why he had a black eye. Of all the kids that had to question him, it had to be one who had energy, was able to run, and had a good right hook. Emmett told the child that he was checking in on the elves and one of them—and at this point Emmett pointed to me—swung back a hammer hit Santa in the eye. The kid was off in a flash, chasing me around the room, and managed to get a few of his cohorts in on the action too. I let them chase me around and beat me up for good measure, glad they didn't aim for my man parts, and I ended up fairly unscathed with no black eye. Emmett called the kids off me, telling him that he had forgiven me for the accident and that they should too.

Before we left, one of the nurses talked to Emmett privately. He went through the trouble of changing into sterile scrubs to visit a little girl who had cancer whose immune system was weak. I didn't think he realized that he had a huge ass smile the entire time he was telling us that the sight of Santa made her face light up. We waved good-bye to everyone, wishing them a Merry Christmas, and sped off down the hallway. It had been my first experience visiting the kids, but I knew it wouldn't be my last.

On the way home, Charlie followed us in his police cruiser, and Bella sat next to me. We held hands together in the back seat and even though we had seen each other yesterday, for some reason it felt like an incredibly long time. When we arrived back home, Carlisle and Emmett parked out front instead of in the garage. Though I had enjoyed the time at the hospital, I couldn't wait to get out of the stupid looking elf costume. Bella grabbed her things from Charlie's cruiser, and we ran inside to change. When I opened the front door, I stopped in my tracks.

Tony, Jan, Emily, and Laura had been hard at work, turning the living room into a winter wonderland. The tree was no longer the main decoration. Santas, snowmen, and a Christmas village dotted the area, livening it up and making it feel more Christmassy. The living room even smelled more like… um, well, Christmas, if that made any sense. Esme squealed when she walked into the house, overjoyed at the family's effort.

Tony came over and said hello, welcoming me to the family, and asked how I was doing. I responded the best way I knew. "I'm taking it one day at a time." I told him.

He nodded with understanding and told me I should go change out of the ridiculous looking elf costume. I whole heartedly agreed, so Bella and I went up to my room to change. She used the bathroom while I hurried and stripped of the costume.

I gathered my presents to take downstairs, but I had a thought before Bella was done changing. Digging through the bags, I retrieved the rectangular box that contained the necklace I had bought for her. When she opened the door, I was sitting on my bed with the box in my hands.

"What's the saying?" she asked. "You look like the cat that ate the canary."

"Come here." I turned slightly and patted the space on the bed beside me.

Bella walked over and sat down next to me. I knew she had seen the box in my lap, but she played dumb. "What's up?"

"I have something else for you, but I thought maybe I should give this to you without everyone else around." I passed the silver box to her. "This year I seem to keep learning new things about myself. Well, I ended up learning the useless piece of information that I can't wrap presents to save my life, so… I uh, just taped the sides shut."

She took the present from me and bit her lip. "Charlie is an amazingly good wrapper. I always thought he hired someone to wrap my gifts when I was younger."

"You're stalling."

Bella glanced down at the box. "You better not have gone crazy on me."

"I don't think I did." Reaching out, my hand found hers and squeezed it. "You know I'm still pretty damn cheap!"

She laughed and shook the box. "Oh, so did you get what's inside for a quarter from one of those toy dispensers at the Thriftway?"

"I am not _that_ cheap!" I pretended that her accusation hurt by placing my free hand over my chest. "How you wound me, woman!"

"Just double checking," she said.

I let go of her hand and motioned to the gift. "Open your damn present already!"

"Okay, okay, Mr. Bossy!" Bella carefully removed the tape from the box and lifted the lid. Everything seemed as if it was in slow motion, and I wondered if Bella would like the necklace. When she lifted the lid, she smiled and didn't throw it back in my face, so I thought that was a good thing. "Oh, wow, Edward!" Her fingers danced over the necklace, examining it.

"I thought it'd be best to get something simple for you," I explained. "You know, not flashy. I hope you like silver, I wasn't sure."

"It's perfect." Bella removed the necklace from the box and held it up. The little bit of sunlight that was streaming in from the window hit the crystal heart and bounced off onto the wall. "Will you put it on for me?"

She passed the necklace back to me and I took it. Bella turned in the opposite direction and held back her hair so I could secure the necklace around her neck. Before she turned around, I placed a kiss on her neck. "I told you that you had my heart. I'm glad you like it."

Bella turned and faced me. "I love it, thank you so much."

"You're very welcome." I edged closer and wrapped my arms around her. "Merry Christmas, Bella."

"Merry Christmas, Edward." I stifled a yawn against her shoulder. "Did you receive the Emmett Cullen Christmas Morning Wake up Call?"

"The evil bastard has done that for years, hasn't he?" Bella's laughter confirmed my suspicions. "I say payback is long overdue."

"I'm game for whatever you can think up."

I wiggled closer to Bella and nestled my head into the crook of her shoulder. "I can't think right now. Actually, I'm trying very hard not to fall asleep in your arms."

"Charlie is on the premises, so I don't think that'd work out too well."

"Damn it to hell."

There was a loud knock on my door, followed by Charlie's voice. "Incoming parental unit!"

I tried to hurry up and pull away from Bella, but I'd be damned if she stayed glued to me. "For Esme's sake, I wanna live through Christmas. Let me go!" I whispered.

"He has to get used to seeing us together," she whispered back. "Stay still!"

"Hell no, woman!" My arms went limp so it appeared as if Bella was simply holding onto me and then I said something I never thought I'd have to speak and never wanted to utter ever again. "Bella, get off me!"

My door swung open, and Charlie stood in the entrance with his arms crossed over his chest, staring at me. I took a moment and issued a silent "thank you" that Charlie was not currently carrying a weapon of mass killage. His eyebrows started dancing up and down—oh, how I'd actually missed the eyebrow dance!—and I could've sworn that he was trying not to laugh.

"Sir, would you kindly get your daughter off me?"

Charlie cringed and shook his head. "That's a phrase I never thought I'd have to hear come from your wise mouth."

"You and me both."

Uncrossing his arms, Charlie sighed and dug his hands into his pockets—probably to stop himself from wrapping his fingers around my neck and strangling me. He mumbled unintelligibly under his breath before speaking clearly. "Bella, please release your boyfriend."

The day was full of Christmas miracles because Bella actually listened and let go of me. "I was just thanking him for the gift he gave me." She rose from the bed and practically skipped over to Charlie. "See?" Bella held up crystal heart so Charlie could examine it for himself. "Isn't it pretty?"

"Um, yeah, I guess so," he said. "I don't really know jewelry, so if you like it, that's what's really important. It's legit and everything, right, Edward?"

"I am not a thief, sir!"

"What did I tell you?" he asked. "Stop calling me 'sir', okay?"

"Okay Patty, I mean, Peppermint… I mean Charlie!"

Bella put her hands against Charlie's chest to stop him from moving forward, but he didn't attempt to go anywhere. Instead, he actually started laughing. "I came here to fetch you two because everyone was wondering where you are. Get your stuff together and get your butts downstairs. Got it, Marcie?"

"Got it, ssssssss…er, Charlie." It was like I needed training to stop calling my girlfriend's father "sir" or something. "I'll get it one day."

"I'm not getting any younger," he said, turning halfway out the door. "Accomplish it before I die, please."

Bella stood near the doorway and watched him leave. "I told you! He likes you!" She did that whispering loudly thing that females always tend to do. "He laughed!"

"I'm still glad he's not currently carrying his handgun," I said. "Can you help me get everything downstairs?"

I gave Bella the lighter items to carry, and we placed them under the tree with the others. Like Thanksgiving, we were eating early an early dinner. Esme and Jan were in the kitchen, and I wasn't sure what I should do. I felt really awkward while I checked out what else was going on. Everyone my age seemed to be immersed in some kind of board game, so Bella and I joined them. I also had a chance to talk to Emily and Laura and got to know them a little more. Even though we were cousins, they still felt like strangers to me.

Esme announced that we'd be eating soon and that signaled a rampage to obtain drinks before we ate. Tony and Jan had put the table leaf in earlier so we were all able to sit together. When I went to find my seat, I was horrified to see that there was a place card with Charlie's name to my left while Bella was to my right. It was like… torture on both sides! I managed to make it through dinner alive without accidently spilling anything (like the entire contents of the gravy boat on Charlie's lap) in my heightened nervous state. I was thoroughly full and thankful that dessert would come later. While the apple pie and cookies looked and smelled delicious, I was currently too full to enjoy another bite of food for a few hours.

After cleaning up our mess, it was time to exchange presents and I was a tad nervous because I had completely forgotten about getting something for Tony and his family. Great nephew and cousin I was, right? The thing was, even if I had remembered about them when we went shopping, I wouldn't have known what to get them.

While everyone was still jockeying for a seat and gathering their gifts to pass out, I went over to Tony and apologized in advance. "I'm sorry, I completely forgot about finding something for you, Jan, and the girls."

"Don't worry about it, Edward. I know you've had a lot of your mind." He dug into a gift bag and handed me an envelope. "Picking out a gift for someone you don't know is hard. I hope we can change that, though."

I opened the envelope to find a Christmas card with handwritten greetings from all of them. I read their notes quickly but Tony's jumped out at me the most. "Remember, we're always here for you," it said. There was also a gift card to Wal-Mart tucked inside. "Thanks, Tony."

"Emmett told me that you and Bella like Wal-Mart," he explained. "Jan wanted to give you a check, but I thought that was too impersonal. This way, you two can have a little road trip and hang out."

"Can't let Alice find this," I said while sneaking the gift card into my wallet. "She'd have a fit that anything to do with Wal-Mart was inside the house!"

Tony laughed and sent me on my way. I picked up my bags and started passing out my gifts. I stopped near Carlisle and handed him the wrapped picture frame and envelope with the gift card inside. Then I went over to Emmett and Jasper who were sitting next to one another on chairs from the kitchen. I put the book and calendar near Emmett and then passed them each an envelope. "You have to open these at the same time, got it?"

They shrugged and looked at each other. "Now?" Emmett asked Jasper.

"Sure!"

They tore into the envelopes and stared at what was inside. "No freakin' way!" Emmett exclaimed.

Jasper glanced the photo copy of his ticket and then at Emmett's. "Awesome!"

"Carlisle has all of the actual tickets and we're going with you two," I said. "We're going to have a guy weekend deal."

"Edward, you went above and beyond the call in the present department!" Jasper exclaimed. "I feel kind of lousy giving you this now." He passed me a small box.

"Don't worry about it, Jazz."

"So I've graduated up to the ninth grade, huh?" Emmett asked while flipping through his new Word of the Day calendar.

"That's from both me and Alice." I informed him. "So you can continue to expand that fantabulous vocabulary of yours."

He picked up the book and started to unwrap it. "I don't think that's a real word," he said seriously. When Emmett saw the front cover, he smiled. "I do know I'm way above this reading level, but I think I know why you got this for me."

Jasper took the book from his hands. "_Just Me and My Little Brother_?"

Emmett rose from his seat and hugged me. "Thanks for everything. Your stuff is over by Bella." He motioned to a space between Esme and Bella on the couch, and I saw a small pile of presents. "I hope you like 'em."

"I'm sure I will."

I stopped by where Alice and Rose were sprawled out on the floor and gave them their gifts. Rose handed me another small box, and Alice explained that she needed to give me my gift when things calmed down a little. Not knowing what was going on, I shrugged and agreed.

Heading back to the couch, I remembered that I had forgotten something when I spotted Charlie squeezed in on the couch next to Bella. I put down the bags and hurried over to Carlisle.

"Thanks for the gift card and the photo," he said as I approached. "I'm glad that picture of the two of us turned out so well."

"You're welcome, I'm sorry, I wasn't sure what to get someone that can buy whatever they need or want on their own."

"I know, but I appreciate the thought you put into the gifts."

"Good, I'm glad. Where's Charlie's other gift?"

"In the fridge," he said. "Bottom shelf, in the back."

"Thanks!"

I practically ran into the kitchen and opened the refrigerator door. Searching the area Carlisle had told me, I found a gift bag and moved other items out of the way so I could get to it. Once I had the bag, I went back to the living room and claimed my seat between Esme and Bella. Digging through my items, I found the other item for Charlie and passed them over to him. "Merry Christmas, Charlie, and for the record, I did not actually purchase _this_ present directly."

He glared at me suspiciously and pushed aside the tissue paper. When he saw what was buried in the bag, he laughed and pulled out the six pack of tall boys. I sat down and heard the distinctive pop of a can being opened and turned in Charlie's direction.

"Dad!" Bella took the remaining six pack away from him.

"What?" he asked innocently. "The boy gave me cold beer! You can drive home."

"No, I can't!" she said. "I can't drive the cruiser. The rest are going to make it home with us unopened. You got it?"

"Yes, ma'am." Charlie pointed at the box on his lap. "This is for me too?"

"Yeah," I said with a chuckle. "That's for you too."

"Bella insisted that I get you something." Charlie started to open the box. "It's that top box on your pile."

Removing the indicated box, I heard Charlie start to laugh. "Aw, damn, complete with your picture so I can get my aim down!" He held up the dart board, which I had opened the plastic slightly and slipped a picture of myself inside.

Coincidence is a weird mother fucker because when I opened Charlie's gift I found a t-shirt with the saying "Might as well be a bulls eye" emblazed across the chest. Wrapped in the t-shirt was a book.

Bella leaned over and read the title out loud "I'm surprised, Charlie! _How Not to Screw It Up: Ten Steps to an Extraordinary Relationship_. I swear, he picked that out himself," she said. "I had _nothing_ to do with that."

"So I don't have to use these," he pointed to the darts still secured behind the plastic wrapping. "On you."

Bella hugged Charlie, and I was slightly creeped out by how much smiling the man was doing today. It must be another one of those Christmas miracles. I handed Bella the small gift bag with her girly stuff in it and picked up Jasper's gift to unwrap. He gave me a really nice wallet which was great because my current one was falling apart looking like a piece of shit.

"You remembered my scent!" Bella exclaimed while looking through the products. "How'd you find it?"

"On their website actually," I told her while giving Jasper a thumbs up for the wallet. "I didn't know what you used, so I just got a little bit of everything."

"It's all great, thanks!" She leaned over and I felt her lips against my cheek. "You've spoiled me between the Pearberry stuff and the necklace… oh! I didn't show Alice and Rose the necklace!"

Bella hopped up off the couch and ran over to Alice and Rose. She showed them her necklace while they showed off their jewelry to her. I had given Rose a nice pair of small gold hoop earrings while I picked out a necklace for Alice. It was gold and had three charms on it which represented her birth stone as well as mine and Emmett's. I opened Rose's gift to find a watch waiting for me. It was fabulous timing—no pun intended—because my current watch was on its last legs and the front was so scratched it was hard to tell the time.

As I moved Emmett's gifts in front of me, I saw him approach out of the corner of my eye. He sat sideways on the couch next to me, squeezing himself in between me and Charlie. I opened the first gift first, a small flat object, and found another book. We were also slightly on the same page with our gifts, but not entirely. The book he had picked out for me wasn't a children's book, but it was very "us." "_Brothers Are Special_, huh?" I read the back to find it was collection of quotes and stuff about brothers. Emmett turned to a page and drew my attention to a quote from Billy Graham which he had taken the liberty to edit slightly.

"It was a happy moment for me when, at almost _nineteen_, I discovered that my folks had gotten me a baby brother. When _Edward_ was big enough to play with me, we bonded for a lifetime."

Smiling, I turned the page and noticed his hand writing under an English proverb. Beneath the quote "the younger brother hath the more wit" Emmett had written, "the younger brother hath a more sarcasticth attitude."

"Sarcasticth isn't a word, dumbass, but thanks," I said. "It's cool."

"I know it ain't a word, brainiac. Open your other stuff."

For reasons unbeknownst to even me, I wanted to laugh and cheer when I opened up the M*A*S*H* Martinis and Medicine complete collection. "Whoa, Emmett, I can't believe you remembered. Damn, I saw one time how much this sucker cost, too."

"Yeah, well, I kind of like the show too," he said. "Klinger cracks me up."

"You're a closet M*A*S*H* fan, aren't you?"

"Yeah, pretty much." He nodded his head. "I thought we could watch 'em together."

"Sounds like a plan." Moving the other box toward me for easier access, I found it heavy as hell. "Damn Emmett, what else did you get me? Did you stuff someone's body in here? Hold up! You do know that I'm getting along with Mike Newton now, right? You didn't have to kill him for me." Opening the box, I laughed out loud at the sight of the biggest set of dishes I had ever seen. "That explains it!"

Bella came back over to the couch and shooed Emmett away. Reaching for a bag that had been pushed under the coffee table, she placed it on my lap. "For you."

Inside the bag were two large rectangular objects. The first one was heavier and turned out to be a very nice brown leather journal. The second was another book entitled _When the Past Is Present: Healing the Emotional Wounds that Sabotage our Relationships_.

"I picked these out for you long before our little therapy session," she said. "You have a hard time talking about things, so I thought maybe you could try to write stuff down. When I saw the book and was looking through it, I don't know, I thought maybe it could help you with coping and maybe with Esme."

"Thank you, that was really thoughtful of you, Bella." I gave her a quick kiss. "My little therapist."

"Hey, pst, parental unit alert right here," Charlie said from Bella's other side. "I sense weirdness so knock it off."

"There's something else on the table for you," Bella said, ignoring Charlie's words of warning. "I didn't see it there before."

Sure enough, there was a small box with a white bow sitting on top of it. "That's new." I leaned forward to get it and opened it up to find a set of keys inside. "What are these for? I already have a set of house keys."

Bella shrugged. "Don't ask me."

Esme, who was previously deep in conversation with Jan, turned her attention to me. "Your father and I have something to show you."

Carlisle came over toward us and then Esme got up. Completely clueless, I followed them toward the garage. Carlisle and Esme stepped inside first and then flipped on the lights. Parked inside was a small, silver car with the hugest red bow I had ever seen resting on top of the roof. "Whoa, wait, you two are giving me a _car_? Are you both insane?"

"Esme dear, are you insane?" Carlisle asked. "I don't think I am. I may pass as a little weird, but not insane."

"I agree with you on both counts, honey." Esme said with a smile. "Do you like it, Edward?"

"Um, I guess so," A tad speechless, I scratched absent mindedly at my scalp. I stepped forward to get a closer look. "This was really way too much."

"You don't seem to mind hopping a ride with Emmett or borrowing my car," Carlisle explained. "But we thought by having your own you'd have a little freedom. This way you and Bella could go out on dates by yourselves instead of having everyone else around."

I had been busy looking through the window of the car while Carlisle spoke but turned back to them. "Even after I ran away?"

"That wasn't completely your fault." Esme stepped toward me. "We decided to still go ahead and give you the car because you made the decision came back on your own. It's important for us to trust you and, as Carlisle said, for you to have some freedom."

"Go ahead, Edward, open it up and check it out." Carlisle instructed me. I opened the driver's side door and slid into the seat.

"So that's what 'new car smell' is!" I laughed. Esme opened the passenger door and sat down.

"Do you like it?" she asked eagerly.

My eyes wandered over the instrument panel. "Yeah, wow, it's real nice."

With the driver's side door open, Carlisle squatted down next to me. "Since you've never had a car of your own, I'd like to go over everything tomorrow with you before you take it out on your own."

"Yeah, I'm okay with that." My eyes were still wandering all over the inside of the car—the dash, the instrument panel, the radio to the back seat via the rearview mirror. "Comfy seats."

Carlisle even had me go around and pop the trunk. Inside was an orange and white bag with emergency essentials like jumper cables and a collapsible shovel which Esme informed me was actually from Charlie. "Thank you very much for the car," I said. "It's really way too much and more than I ever expected."

I hugged them both and Esme held on for a little bit longer than I was comfortable with. Since it was Christmas, I let it slide and kept my mouth shut. "I haven't even given you my gift yet."

"Well then, let's get back into the house so I can open your present," Esme said. "I'm sure Emmett is just dying to break into the desserts."

We headed back inside and I had to fill everyone in on why we were out in the garage. Most of the family went to go check out my new car. I thanked Charlie for the emergency kit.

"You're welcome, kid. I know what your car and license plate is, so don't let me catch you speeding. Just because you're dating my daughter doesn't mean you get a free pass with tickets," he warned me.

"I wouldn't expect any less from you, Charlie."

He went out to join the others in ogling at my present in the garage. I sat on the couch with Esme to my right and Carlisle was on her other side. "Be careful, there's glass." I warned Esme as I passed the wrapped picture frames to her.

She took her presents with both hands and placed them on her lap. "Thank you, Edward."

I continued to sit next to her as she carefully opened each picture frame and smiled at them. "I didn't have pictures to fill every slot, but I filled in a few."

"That's okay, half the fun of a new picture frame is figuring out what to put into it." Esme continued to unwrap the remaining frames and examined each picture. "I really like the pictures you chose, and actually, I don't have any of them."

Reaching into the bag, I brought out the photo album and passed it to her. "Maybe you can use some from here."

"I think the shopping bug that Alice has must've bitten you!" Esme laughed as she took the gift from me. "I hope you didn't go overboard on me."

"Says one of the parents who just presented me with a car!" I watched as Esme unwrapped the album and flipped through its pages. "I know it's an odd mix of photos."

"These aren't of Alice or Emmett," she said. "Is this you?" Esme pointed to a picture of me in a high chair, my face covered in spaghetti sauce and a huge grin.

"Yeah, I guess I liked to wear my food,or, maybe unlike Emmett, leave some for later," I explained and pointed to a picture of me with cake on my face. "I took albums that day too. I went through them and copied some of the pictures that I thought you'd like to see."

Carlisle sat and looked through the album with her. "Medieval Times?" he asked, pointing at a picture of me with a man dressed as a Knight.

"Yeah," I replied. "I think for six months after that I wanted to be a Knight and ride a horse everywhere." I pointed to a picture of me standing in front of a statue. "I think that's in Central Park in New York City." As we continued looking through the album, I filled them in on what I was doing or where I was in each picture as best I could.

"Thank you so much, I loved getting a peek into your past. This," she said, patting the albums, "was really great. I love it. Thank you."

"Oh, wait, there's something else." I grabbed the baby book at the bottom of the bag and handed it to Esme. "This is for you too."

"You definitely went overboard." She took the present and slowly opened it. When she saw the front of it, she gasped, and I saw Carlisle's arm go around her back. She slowly flipped through the pages, not missing a single one, reading all the information I had entered amongst the pages. Her fingers reached out and touched the lock of hair from my first haircut. Esme leaned against Carlisle, and I noticed that there were tears on her cheeks.

"I'm sorry," I apologized, wondering if the gift was too much for her. "I didn't mean to make you cry again."

"Don't worry, these are happy tears." Esme daintily rubbed at her eyes, wiping the tears away. Everyone had started to slowly filter back into the living room. I felt Bella squeeze into the space on my left, and Carlisle passed the photo album over to her. Esme's attention went back to the book and one of Bella's arms snake around my waist.

"Ya done good, mister." Bella whispered, before she planted a quick kiss on my cheek.

Alice was on Bella's left hand side, perched on the arm chair of the couch, and Jasper stood next to her. Emmett and Rose were standing behind us on the couch, waiting for their turn to look at the album.

"Thank you, Edward." Esme still had tears in her eyes. "I don't know if you realize how much this meant to me. I never thought I'd see some of these moments in your life."

She hugged me for the second time that night and got up to show Jan my baby book. Carlisle slid closer to me on the couch. "Excellent choice," he said. "And in a way, they were presents for me, too." He patted me on the back and left.

Emmett leaned over the back of the couch. "Dude, Mom is fucking _glowing_," he whispered. "I think the last time I saw her this happy was the night we went to bring you home."

Alice plopped down next to me on the couch. "Okay, I'm going to go get your present now." She was off and running upstairs before I could say anything. Emily and Laura were currently browsing through the photo album and asked me a question about one of the pictures. Rose came over and thanked me for the earrings I had given her. I told her I appreciated the watch, even though it looked like I was going to need an instruction manual to understand how to operate the sucker. Before I knew it, Alice was sitting at my side again. She had some odd plastic container on her lap and had placed a wrapped box on the coffee table. Alice passed the container to me by a handle on the top and I looked inside.

"You got me a cat for Christmas?" The small cat was lying down and meowed at me.

"Actually, she's still a kitten. I found out one of Angela's cats had a litter and talked to her," she explained. "I had to wait until Sabrina was old enough to leave her mama. Animal therapy can be very therapeutic."

I turned toward Bella. "Were you a part of this?"

"No, I was not!" she said. "But evidently, great minds think alike."

"Angela's little brother named her Sabrina, but I guess you can name her something else." Alice took the carrier from me and placed it on her lap. She opened it up, but Sabrina didn't make a move to leave. "I've had her in your room to get used to your scent. She's really timid and the runt of the littler. We should probably keep her as an indoor cat only."

I slowly put my hand inside the carrier, and Sabrina inched her way forward to sniff at me. Her whiskers tickled my skin, and her tongue snaked out to lick me. "Come on out, girl." I patted at my lap and Sabrina slowly made her way out of the carrier, her head whipping back and forth at the noise around us. Sabrina was black with a perfectly formed white strip of fur that started around her nose, went down her chin to her stomach. Each paw was white, but the pads were completely black, as well as her nose. "She's adorable."

"She likes it when you scratch under her chin, like this." Alice reached out scratched under Sabrina's chin, which caused her to start purring loudly. "You like that, dontcha? She kind of likes it when you do it rough."

I coughed to stifle a laugh. "She likes it rough, huh?"

"I was talking about a feline, not your girlfriend, sicko!" Alice rolled her eyes at me. "I have some cat toys up in my room that Jasper and I have been using with her. It's funny as hell when she goes after the laser light."

Sabrina was still purring even though Alice had stopped petting her. She looked at me, her yellow eyes big and content. And then she leaned forward and head butted my stomach, staying there in that position until she fell asleep and tumbled over into my lap. Groggy looking with her eyes half closed, Sabrina walked around on my lap in a circular motion until she curled herself up into a ball and fell back asleep. "You are so lucky that I'm not allergic to cats or anything like that."

"You never mentioned anything, but yeah, I am lucky, aren't I?" Leaning forward, she grabbed the wrapped box off the coffee table and passed it to me. "This is for you too."

"You didn't, like, wrap a mouse up for Sabrina or something, did you?" Bella started laughing from my left hand side.

"You moron," she eked out between fits of giggles. "Alice didn't want to buy you a twelve dollar pair of jeans. Do you honestly think she'd give you a gift of a dead mouse?"

"I admit that it's highly unlikely."

"It's not a mouse, open the damn box already!" Alice placed her hands on her gift and shoved it against my chest.

"Geez, you're a pushy woman!" I unwrapped her gift and found what appeared to be a very nice and expensive digital camera. While I enjoyed photography class, I wasn't as interested in figuring out the perfect settings for a picture on a manual camera. "Ooh, nice, thanks, Alice!"

"You're welcome, I'm glad you like it. I threw a bigger memory card in the box," she said with a smile. "I really like the necklace you gave me, but I have a question. I recognize my birthstone, what are the other two?"

"The other two are mine and Emmett's," I explained. "I thought it'd be a way to always have your big brothers with you."

"Aw, Eddie!" She threw herself at me which caused Sabrina to wake up. If I didn't know better, Sabrina gave Alice a dirty look before settling back down in my lap.

The rest of the night started to become one big blur as I continued to get more and more tired. Bella and I went out to the garage and I showed her my car. _My car_. That phrase still sounded so alien. I had never owned much of anything, much less something as large and expensive as a car. Hell, I had never owned my own digital camera before either. When we had dessert I thought I was going to end up face down in my apple pie. By some miracle that didn't happen, and I enjoyed every bite. I helped Bella and Charlie, as well as Tony and his family, outside with their bags and the cold air gave me a temporary second wind and woke me up. Emmett informed me that it was family tradition to watch _It's a Wonderful Life_ every Christmas night. I settled down on the couch next to Esme with Sabrina purring away on my left.

My mind easily wandered from the movie and memories of last Christmas were brought to the forefront of my mind. Christmas had never a big event in the past. We never had the money to buy much for each other; rather it was more important to pay the bills so we could have a roof over our head or heat blowing through the house or apartment. Last year Liz made Christmas dinner, and afterwards the three of us sat around on the couch and watched _A Christmas Story_. It made me wonder what Peter and Liz were doing tonight. Liz was innocent but still stuck in jail until everything could be straightened out and she could be released. Was she being treated nicely? Did they have a special dinner for them at the jail? Or was it just another day for both of them?

I ventured to guess that today was like every other day. I was torn that I was sad for them, especially Peter. For some reason I felt a kinship to George Bailey. He got to see how the others in his life would have lived if he hadn't been born. For the first seventeen years of my life, Carlisle and Esme had lived without me and although I didn't see the experience firsthand, I knew it had hurt Esme tremendously. Now it was Peter and Liz's turn to go on without me.

_Ding. Ding. Ding._

"Every time a bell rings an angel gets his wings."

_Ding. Ding. Ding._

What the hell? A lot of angels were getting wings tonight. Oh hell, wait! I blinked and rubbed at my eyes. I had fallen asleep during the movie and woke up leaning against Esme's shoulder as it neared its completion.

"Sorry, I guess I was tired," I said groggily as I sat up and checked Esme's shoulder for drool. "What's with the bells?"

"It's been massive angel admittance tonight," Carlisle said from Esme's other side.

"Sabrina is chasing a toy with a bell on it," she explained, turning off the television. "You've had a long day. Go ahead and go to bed."

"Where's my little critter? Sabrina?" I made a noise, and she came running in my direction and picked her up. "Ah, there's my girl! Don't get used to being spoiled and carried everywhere. I don't feel like waiting for you to follow me up three flights of stairs."

It didn't escape my attention that Carlisle, Esme, and I were the only ones downstairs. I guessed that Emmett was probably the first to head up for his bed since he was awake so early. "Good night you two, thanks for everything. Later." The words came out kind of slurred like a drunk. As I made my way upstairs, I wished the house had an elevator. My lids were heavy with sleep as I finally entered my bedroom and closed the door behind me. I placed Sabrina down on my bed as I quickly stripped of my clothes and left them were they landed. I was too damn tired to care or to try to get them in the hamper. Crawling in between the covers, Sabrina lay down next to my pillow and stared at me. Rolling over to my back, I yawned, my eyes watering from exhaustion. Sleeping in was my top priority for the next day! I soon felt movement next to me, and Sabrina crawled up onto my blanket-covered chest. Her face was mere inches away from mine and her paw reached out and tapped at my cheek.

"Sleep now. Play tomorrow," I said out loud. With her front leg still extended, she put her head down and closed her eyes. The loud noise of purring seemed to echo throughout the room as I wondered how'd I'd ever fall asleep at night with an animal… perched on my chest…zzzzzzzzzzz.

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**A/N: **You should know I love the love of reviews, so bring it on. To see pictures of some of the gifts, including Sabrina, you can visit a page on my website autumn-dreamer[dot]com/twilight/fanfic/legacy_christmasgifts[dot]htm


	36. Bonding

**DISCLAIMER: **I'm not Stephenie Meyer, V.C. Andrews or anyone else important.

**A/N: **Sorry for the wait! But guess what? This chapter needs a sticker on it that reads **WARNING: Long Ass Chapter Ahead**. No one would shut the hell up. This sucker is 10,764 words minus my added notes.

Anyone have a better summary for _Legacy_ than what I have? I sometimes think the reason why people put off reading it because of the summary. Thanks again for all the new readers—where ever you came from. I tried to contact you all via PM but a few of you came up with PM's disabled.

I thought I'd start adding the date to the chapters since timeline wise this can be confusing. Thoughts on that?

Mucho thanks as always to my beta, Bridget, and my pre-readers Liz and the newbies, Lisa and Anjie (also thanks for the "fuck and duck" Anj!). Uh, wait, that didn't sound right…

**ONE LAST THING! PLEASE READ!** If you read this note before December 10th at 9pm EST [-5 GMT], please consider going and nominating _Legacy_ at The Eddie & Bellie Awards in the "Emmett You Want as Your Brother" category. With the way these award work – the more nominations, the better. If I don't have a bunch of nominations, I will not be able to pass through to the voting round. I know a few people have nommed me, but because _Legacy_ isn't popular in the fandom, I'm kind of fighting an uphill battle. www[dot]thecatt[dot]net/tw/default[dot]aspx

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**Chapter 36: Bonding**

_Friday, December 26, 2008_

Like most people, I moved during the night while I slept. When I woke up next morning I was lying on my side, feeling very refreshed and rested. My eyelids fluttered open, and I was slightly confused because all I saw was black. Then I realized that something was tickling my nose. The black moved, and I remembered that I now owned a cat. I was relieved that my face was buried snuggly in Sabrina's back and not something more gross.

"Mornin', girl." Sabrina's head shot up at the sound of my voice. "What are we going to do today, huh?" Sabrina rose from her position on my pillow, and she stretched and yawned before climbing on top of me and resting herself on my hip. Glancing at my alarm clock, I saw that it was now eight-thirty in the morning. "I'm sorry to break it to you, but I'm getting up and taking a shower. Don't know about you, but I want some food."

Gently rocking back and forth, Sabrina tried to dig her claws into my blanket-covered thigh but eventually gave up and jumped off of me. I got out of bed and headed to the bathroom, my new little feline friend hot on my trail. She followed me into the bathroom, and I noticed that a litter box had been placed in there for her. Sabrina hopped into her litter box at the same time I, um, used mine, so to speak. While I took a shower she stood in the corner of the tub partially covered by the shower curtain, watching me with interest.

"Sabrina, don't you even think about reaching out and patting me!" I did not want my junk clawed and mangled by a kitten. "You are _not_ allowed to play with Pogo. He's saved for Bella… and me, but when she's not around, ya know? It's not like I have calluses on my hands from whacking off that often. Why the hell am I explaining my sexual habits to a cat? You're just a kitten; you're too young to know this stuff anyway!"

Sabrina continued to watch as I brushed my teeth and dressed. Alice and Jasper must've brought all the cat related things into my room last night because sitting up on dresser were some toys and a note explaining where her food was in the kitchen. I decided to leave the toys there for now while I went downstairs to find something for breakfast. My little shadow followed me down the stairs, bumbling along the way as she tried to keep up. At one point she spotted her tail and tried to chase it, which caused her to fall down a few steps. The sight of witnessing her tumble made me laugh out loud, and when Sabrina landed on her back ahead of me, she looked up as if to say, "Hey, I _meant_ to do that!"

In the kitchen I found Sabrina's food and put some down for her, along with some water, and searched through the fridge since we were out of my quick breakfast solution—cereal—so I opted to make pancakes. I made extra for the rest of the family and wrapped them in foil while my scrambled eggs finished cooking in the pan. I ate by myself at the kitchen counter with Sabrina trying to climb up my pant leg the entire time. "Nuh uh, you're staying down there while I eat."

After I cleaned up, I took my presents from last night—minus the digital camera—upstairs and grabbed a few of Sabrina's cat toys from my room. Back downstairs, I watched some TV and played with the little nut. The more I thought about it, the more thankful I was that Alice had given her to me. She didn't speak back, but much like the journal I had gotten from Bella, I could talk to Sabrina and she wouldn't judge what I was saying. She also made me laugh, and I thought that was a good thing considering everything that had been going on in my life. I was reading over the instructional manual to the camera when I heard footsteps on the stairs. Turning around, I saw Esme round the corner with a smile on her face.

"Good morning, Edward," she said. "Did you sleep well?"

"Mornin'," I said. "I don't remember anything after my head hit my pillow."

"Me neither." Esme headed into the kitchen and then stopped. "Did you cook?"

"Yeah, how'd you know?"

"I could smell it."

I tried not to laugh at her comment but wasn't successful. I think what would be considered a snicker escaped from within me. "You sound like Emmett. I made some pancakes for breakfast and cooked extra. They're in the fridge."

While Esme fiddled around in the kitchen, Carlisle came downstairs and joined us. It was the most casual I'd ever seen Carlisle around the house—he was wearing only a beaten up gray t-shirt and pair of green boxers.

"Hey, Edward?" He walked over to me at the couch. "Could you go down and get the newspaper? I have to work tonight and I still feel like being lazy for a little bit."

"Sure, I'll go get it for you."

When he turned to go back to the kitchen, I caught sight of a design on the ass of his boxers. There were three round Christmas ornaments with the words "Nice Balls" printed above them.

"Nice balls? I could've lived without knowing that one," I said. "Who got you those?"

"First, thank you, and secondly, your mother."

"I wasn't complimenting your… them!" I shook my head at him. "I'll be back in a few minutes."

Carlisle and Esme were both laughing as I bundled up and headed down the long ass driveway. Once back inside, I kicked off my boots at the door before removing my coat and handing the paper to Carlisle. "Thought maybe I'd have a bit to eat, read the paper, shower, and then I could go over your car with you."

"We can always do that another day," I said. "If you don't have the time, or want to just relax, or whatever today."

"I think I'd feel more relaxed knowing you're fully equipped to take your car out if you want." Carlisle sat at the kitchen table and spread the newspaper out in front of him. "It's Christmas break! I hope you don't just sit around the house until school starts again."

Pulling out a chair, I shrugged and sat down across from Carlisle. "Really never gave it much thought actually." I heard the tinkling of a bell and knew Sabrina was somewhere in the living room playing with one of her toys.

"You don't go back to school until the fifth, right?" I nodded absent mindedly. "Get outta here and do something."

Esme came over with plates of food for her and Carlisle. She placed them down on the table and sat next to him. "Actually, I'd like to take Bella on a real date," I confessed to them. "You know, just the two of us without everyone else around, but I've never dated anyone. I don't know what to do."

"There's always the standard dinner and a movie deal to get you started," Carlisle offered. "You'll probably end up in Port Angeles. Just be careful and don't stay out too late."

"When there's no school, I'd like for you to be home or at least on the way by midnight." Esme turned to Carlisle. "Do you think that's fair?"

His mouth full of food, Carlisle nodded before speaking. "Check with Charlie about Bella's curfew."

"The Newtons just opened a bowling alley downtown, you could go there," Esme offered. "Do you know how to bowl?"

"The only thing I know about bowling is that the goal is to knock down all the pins." I had heard the terms "strike" and "split" but didn't know what they actually were. "Other than that, I don't know how the scoring works."

Esme leaned across the table toward me. "With technology nowadays, the score is probably taken automatically by a computer, but you don't have to pay attention to the score."

"Yeah, just go and have fun." Carlisle stabbed at a few pieces of pancake. "Sometimes keeping score only causes problems and you get into a competition and it can get ugly."

"Only when you're a sore _loser_," Esme glanced sideways at Carlisle and sighed. "And can't handle being beaten by a girl."

"You cheated." Carlisle said.

Esme took her fork and pressed it against Carlisle's upper arm. "I did not cheat."

Carlisle turned his attention to Esme. "Woman, don't fork me in front of our kids."

"I'll fork you any time I want!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, okay you two!" I was so close to putting my hands over my ears and humming something to stop from hearing their voices. "Enough! I asked where I should take Bella on a date. I do not need to know about you two and your… _forking_ habits."

Carlisle turned back to me. "Bella has always seemed pretty laid back. I'm sure she won't mind where you go as long as you have fun and get to spend some time together."

"Whatever you do, don't take her cow tipping." Esme warned me. "So not cool as you kids would put it."

"I agree with your mother."

Esme gasped. "Someone call Guinness!"

Carlisle pretended to clutch his chest with his free hand. "I've agreed with you plenty of times!"

Their little spat, which I assumed was only for show, still made me nervous for some reason.

"Alright you two, no fighting!"

"We're not fighting," Carlisle said. "This is how we roll."

"This is how we roll?" Esme asked. "Seriously, Carlisle? This is how we roll?"

Carlisle shrugged his shoulders. "What?"

"Stop trying to sound cool," she instructed him. "You're not a kid anymore. The seventeen year old is across the table from you."

"The seventeen year old across the table from you is seriously starting to get creeped out over his parents' odd behavior." I directed a finger at them. "I think I'm going to go upstairs and call Bella." Pushing back my chair, I got up and heard Sabrina running toward me. She skidded on the hardwood floor and crashed into my feet. "Come on, let's go call Bella." From behind me, Carlisle made a noise that could've only been described as a whip. "Am not!"

I continued forward, making my way up the stairs, Carlisle and Esme's laughter echoing throughout the house. "No wonder Emmett is the way he is, huh, girl?" Sabrina just looked up at me with her big yellow eyes and yawned. "He's got crazy parents!" My words only brought more laughter forth from Carlisle and Esme.

I only talked with Bella for a few minutes. She told me that Charlie wanted to spend some time with her today. "I think he's going to drag me out ice fishing."

"I can picture it now," I laughed. "The two of you out in one of those fishing shacks all by yourselves with Charlie and his uncommunicative ways. Oh, fun times, love, fun times."

"Lemme borrow Carlisle, will ya? Your father is kind of cool. I can actually talk with him." I filled her in regarding the conversation downstairs with Carlisle and Esme only minutes before.

"Don't worry, they weren't really fighting. That's classic Carlisle and Esme. The two of them play around like that. I think your parents still have sex and stuff."

"That information is on a need to know basis and I _do not_ need to know that." Bella started giggling. "Hey, I wanted to ask you something. What would you say to me, like, taking you out?"

"Elaborate more, please."

I had a feeling she knew exactly what I meant but was messing with me. "What I mean is, you know, I'd like to take you out on, like, an actual date." Why the fuck was I so nervous about asking my own girlfriend out on a date?

"I'll think about it."

"_Bella._"

I heard Charlie's voice in the background. "Crap, I'm being hauled off to the lake." She did not sound the least little bit enthused about her situation.

"Have fun!"

"Oh, shut it!" I started laughing at her. Or was that with her? "I'll talk to you later, Edward."

"Bye love, don't jump in the frozen lake or do anything rash."

"Don't gimme any ideas, Marcie!"

She hung up the phone before I could make an appropriate come back and was reminded that Bella, Carlisle, and Esme didn't have Peanut nicknames. We'd have to remedy that soon.

Sabrina and I went back downstairs, and we found that my siblings and their significant others had finally woken up and ventured into the kitchen and living room. The rest of the morning was spent tinkering around with some of our gifts, watching one last Christmas-themed movie (_Home Alone_), and then I brought up the subject of the Peanut nicknames.

"I was thinking about that myself," Carlisle said. "Jasper, I think you should concede Snoopy to me. You should be Schroeder to Alice's Lucy."

"Aw, man, but Mr. C, I picked out Snoopy first!"

"I know you love my daughter, but if you're Snoopy and she's Lucy then there's a bit of bestiality going on. I'd rather have a weird interspecies relationship happening. Esme can be Woodstock to my Snoopy," he said very seriously. "Besides, Snoopy is cool. I'm cool, the fore, I should be Snoopy."

"Okay, okay, but it's only because you're cool and let me live here," Jasper said. "Otherwise, I wouldn't give in."

"Jazz, that's going to go right to his head," I warned him, and I spotted Carlisle's tongue sticking out at me from the corner of my eye. "I'll have to ask Bella who she wants to be."

"Oh, I know!" Alice was sitting on the couch with her laptop. "Bella can be your Little Red-Haired Girl. She was a nameless character that Charlie Brown had a crush on. No one is Charlie Brown…and this is already messed up with you being Marcie, so she can be your LRHG."

After our Peanuts discussion, Carlisle took me out to the garage and showed me around my car. "I want to make sure you know where everything is before you take it out. There's nothing worse than driving a car you're unfamiliar with and not know where the windshield washer button is or something like that."

I could see where he was coming from. The first time I drove Emmett's Jeep he was with me to point out where things were. "I don't want to be fumbling around for something and crash."

"That's exactly my point." Carlisle opened the glove box and waved a book at me before closing it. "The manual is in here if you ever have a question. If your seat is in the position you want it, check your mirrors to make sure they're set up correctly for you."

The seat felt fine the way it was, but the mirrors were off. I fixed them and then Carlisle asked me an array of car related questions like if I knew how to pump gas and check the air pressure in the tires. I informed him that I had learned how to pump gas quite a while ago; however, I wasn't one-hundred percent sure on the tire pressure. Carefully backing the car out of the garage, I successfully avoided hitting any of the other vehicles. We went for a drive into town so I could get the feeling of how the car drove. Carlisle pointed out where the bowling alley was located. We stopped at a gas station and he showed me how to check the air in the tires, how to add more if it was needed, and how to check a few things under the hood like the oil. On the way back to the house, we started talking about a varying degree of subjects.

I wondered how the car had gotten to the house and knowing that even Carlisle didn't own a magical transporter, I decided to ask. Carlisle explained that he was friends with the owner of the dealership, so Tony and his family had picked the car up yesterday morning on their ride to the house. Evidently, I came from a family of sneaky bastards.

"So, I want to take Bella out on a date, but it bugs me that I don't have any money of my own."

"Edward, technically you have money coming to you, it's just tied up for now," Carlisle said. "That's why I gave you the credit card to use. I don't want you to feel like you can't use it."

"It kind of weirds me out to use a credit card knowing I'm not responsible for paying the bill," I explained. "I'd always overhear Peter and Liz talking about the bills and how they were going to pay for such and such. They didn't use credit cards at all."

"You were unknowingly taught to be responsible with money while growing up." I never thought about it that way, but I guessed he was right. "You don't have to pay the bill. If it makes you feel any better, why don't we set a limit on what you can spend? Like a monthly allowance or something? Or maybe when everything is straightened out, you have to pay back what you racked up on the card."

The thought of paying back the money, even via the inheritance I was still confused over, somehow made the situation feel a little better in my book. Carlisle suggested a set monthly limit of two-hundred dollars, and I was sure I'd never go through that much on a regular basis. He said I was free to use more in times of emergency—like if the car broke down—or if I needed something such as for the holidays or for someone's birthday. Shit! I then remembered that Emmett and Esme's birthdays were in February. Maybe I'd have to explore online shopping more!

When we reached the house, Carlisle informed me that there was a remote in the car for the automatic garage door opener like everyone else. Nifty. I never had a car of my own before, and the old beat up station wagon wasn't worth putting in a garage when we had one.

"Have you thought of what you want to do after high school?"

"I had never given it much thought because I honestly never had many options before," I said. "I didn't even think I'd end up at a community college because of money issues."

"I think Emmett decided to take a year off. He was accepted at the state university and the local community college," Carlisle said. "Emmett doesn't know what he wants to major in though. He also wants to travel, maybe see Europe. I'm sure he'd be happy to have you join him."

"Wow, Europe, huh? I'd need to get a passport."

Carlisle started laughing at my asinine comment. "Yes, you'd need to get a passport. Why don't you take a few days to think things over? Don't take too long though. If you want to go to school, I think the deadlines are coming up in January for acceptance."

Our conversation had brought up a lot to think about. I never thought I'd end up at anything more than a community college. Actually, I would've been lucky to been able to afford even that. My grades were pretty damn good so I didn't think I'd have a problem getting into an actual four year college. I just never thought I'd have that option available to me. And traveling? Never in a million years did I think I'd ever get out of the states. It was never a choice before now. I'd have to talk to Emmett and see what he had decided on doing. It'd be really cool to see places in Europe I've only seen in books and on TV. What about Bella and Rose though? The thought of not seeing Bella for a long period of time made my chest feel heavy with… I didn't know what, but it didn't feel right.

We had gotten out of my car and were standing around in the garage when Carlisle dared to bring up another subject with me. "Are you and Bella being safe?"

"We're not cliff diving or anything."

"That's not what I meant," he said. "You know what I mean."

I was sure my entire face was flushed red with embarrassment because it felt like it was on fire. Staring at the shovel in the corner, I wished I could dig myself a hug hole to crawl into. I nervously scratched the back of my head. The look on Carlisle's face told me that he felt awkward about this conversation as well. Hoping he'd change the subject, I played dumb. "No, I'm not sure I know what you're talking about."

"What do you think I'm talking about?"

"What do you think I think you're talking about?"

"What do you think I'm thinking that you're thinking that I'm… wait…crap…I confused myself." We both laughed. "Without getting into too many details, what exactly have the two of you been doing?"

Forget digging myself a hole; I wanted to hit myself over the head and knock myself out. "Bella has some… confidence and self image issues. I'm not pushing her into anything."

"Really?" Carlisle relaxed back against the car more. "I always thought I knew Bella pretty well, but I never knew she had those types of issues."

"Yeah, she thinks she's overweight and not as pretty as the other girls in school," I explained with a shrug. "I've tried telling her that I like her just the way she is. I don't know if she's been listening to me though."

"Sometimes, women have to be told something a few times before they start to believe it. It's especially so with those types of issues."

He paused for a moment and I knew he wanted to ask me something else. Or maybe he didn't believe what I had told him. Was I going to have to spell it out for him in dirt on the floor of the garage? I was ready to end this ordeal by taking a header into the concrete floor. "Yeah, we haven't done _that_."

"I'm glad you're respecting her wishes and not being stupid."

"Let's just say we've been… uh, handsie with each other. Can we _please_ leave it at that?"

Carlisle's expression changed and he smiled broadly. "Well, hell, that's more than Emmett will tell me!"

"You faker! I thought you were all nervous and shit." I said, stifling laughter. "And here you are, playing me for the stupid fool that I am!"

"I know the girls have slept in your respective rooms. I have to make sure that you and Emmett are being gentlemen and aren't doing anything incredibly dumb with your girlfriends," he said. "I'm not sure I'm ready to be a grandparent yet."

"Bella ain't gonna get pregnant from what we've been doing." I said, leaving out "unless there's sperm in my fingers" for his benefit as well as my own.

"Anything else you'd like to talk about before we go inside?"

I did need to ask him something and was too embarrassed to do so in front of the others. "Actually, I had a question for you."

"Shoot." He leaned back against the side of my car.

"How did you tell Esme you loved her for the first time?"

Carlisle's leaned forward slightly and started to open his mouth before quickly closing it. He stared at me for a moment, his hands now clasped together in front of him. "I _so_ did not expect that from you. I didn't know you and Bella had gone that far emotionally."

"Bella thought I was asleep and she said she loved me," I said. "Now I'm all worried and nervous about how and when I should tell her how I feel."

"First, I have to say how happy it makes me that Bella means something to you. She's a great girl and when you two first started dating, I wondered about your attachment but I think that had to do more with how you drooled after her more than anything. I'm glad that your feelings are sincere and that she's not just some… oh, what do you kids call it now? Um, a fuck and duck." He seemed embarrassed to say those words in front of me.

"No, Bella is definitely not a 'fuck and duck' and you call it," I said. "She's important to me."

"I thought I was ready to tell your mother how I felt about her, but I was wrong. I ended up blurting it out during dinner in the middle of a conversation revolving around something completely different." He closed his eyes for a moment and laughed. "Damn verbal diarrhea. Let's just say Esme wasn't overly impressed with my words of love at that moment. You know, you'd think a woman would want to hear that, but it didn't fit into the topic of her father's hernia surgery."

"I'm trying to picture that." I really did picture it in my head. The two of them out at a nice restaurant, sitting close together over a nice meal. Esme was probably worried about her father's surgery and was looking to Carlisle for comfort. In the middle of everything he blurts out "I love you!" and then changes the subject back to her father. "Did she slap you?"

"No, she didn't, but later that night, after she was done worrying about her father, she told me that she loved me too." Carlisle had an enormous grin on his face, and I knew I had seen the same grin plastered on Emmett on various occasions. "Don't be so nervous about how and when you tell her how you feel. As long as you mean it, let it come naturally. Even if you screw it up, if she feels the same way about you, she'll forgive you. It still makes me feel all gushy when your mother tells me she loves me."

"Anyone would be a fool to believe that the two of you weren't in love," I said. "I knew it before I really knew you."

Carlisle had an expression on his face that screamed "Aw, shucks" and then we went inside. I could've sworn he was blushing too! It always felt like I had a lot to think about after I talked with Carlisle. The entire college conversation boggled my mind still while our other topic of conversation kind of soothed me.

Esme looked up from the couch where she was playing with Sabrina. "I was wondering if you'd like to do the lunch and haircut deal tomorrow?"

"Sure," I walked over and joined her on the couch. "I don't have any plans."

"I wanted to warn you that my parents are coming in to visit on Sunday." Her words came out nervously.

"What are their names?"

"Frank and Irene," she supplied. "I also have two sisters, Shannon and Lisa, and a brother, John."

Sabrina clawed her way up my leg and onto my lap before laying down for her thirtieth nap of the day. Curious about Esme's side of my family, I leaned back against the couch to be more comfortable. "Where do they all live?"

"My parents are down in southern California but are thinking of moving to Arizona. They want to be somewhere warm, and California is getting too expensive for them."

"I hear Arizona is the new Mecca for old folks." Esme laughed at my words. "Sorry, I don't know how old they actually are."

"They're in their early seventies actually, and yes, Arizona seems to be the new Mecca for old folks," she said. "They don't like Florida but don't like cold weather at all. Never have. Coincidently enough, Shannon and her husband live in Florida and I think is annoyed that our parents won't go and be closer to her. Lisa and her husband live in Las Vegas, which is even too hot for our parents."

"What about your brother?" I asked. "What's his name again?"

"John," she said with a sigh. "He and his partner moved to Vermont around the same time you arrived in Forks."

"Partner?" I asked with a raised brow. "Are you saying he's gay?"

"Yes."

"Now, Esme, don't go giving the boy the wrong impression," Carlisle chided from the kitchen table. "Explain the situation."

"I don't care that John is gay," she explained. "I've never had a problem with his lifestyle, and I helped him come out to our parents. What I'm worried about is the fact that he met Harold at the very end of August."

I scrunched my face up. "And they moved away together in the middle of September?"

"Yup."

"Holy moving fast, huh?"

Esme laughed. "You have a way with words, Edward."

"He takes after his old man!" Carlisle said as he sat on Esme's other side. "Right, son?"

"So I'm told. Verbal diarrhea and all."

She placed one of her hands on mine and turned to face Carlisle. "Still love you both anyway." Esme let go of my hand before turning back to me. "I do fear they're moving too fast. They moved to Vermont because it's one of the few states that allow gay marriage. I don't want John to get his heart broken."

The three of us sat on the couch together for a while. Esme told me some more about her family. Carlisle even described them as more "down to earth" and "blue collar" than his family. The word redneck even snuck into the conversation, which Esme quickly shot down and Carlisle laughingly reinforced with a crazy ass story.

Jasper and Rose had to go and visit their parents, so I went upstairs with Sabrina for some sibling time with Emmett and Alice. We ended up in Emmett's room, sprawled out on the floor while they looked through the album and baby book I had made for Esme for a second time. Alice had gone downstairs to get some albums Esme had made with their pictures.

"Sabrina, you can't lay on top of the pages while I'm looking through it!" I moved her off the album and off to the side for the… I didn't know, I had lost track of how many times I had moved her.

"Dude, she's a cat, she's not going to listen to you," Emmett said. "She's like, worse than a little kid."

"She just wants attention." Alice said, moving her hand fast across the carpet which caught Sabrina's eye, and she started chasing after it. "Are you okay with having a cat? I liked the idea, thought you might, but was worried you'd want to take her to the humane society or something."

"Nah, I like her," I said. "She amuses me."

"I'm glad."

"I just talk to myself a whole helluva lot more now."

Emmett started laughing. "The cat is making you more insane!"

"Ah, shut it, you big oaf!"

Somehow, my comment started a conversation on nicknames Alice had given Emmett over the years. Her favorite had been Hightower until a boy with the same last name moved to Forks. When Alice called out "Hightower," the boy thought she was calling him and not Emmett. It didn't help that the boy had a crush on Alice and went over to her every single time she made the mistake in his vicinity.

"Can I ask you two a question?"

"Sure." They both responded at the same time.

"Do you mind me being here?"

Emmett sat up from his position on the floor. "What the fuck are you talking about, dude?"

Alice raised herself on her elbows before quickly sitting up as well. "I second that question, Eddie."

"I don't know, I…" How did I explain myself when I wasn't even sure what I was asking? "I know my existence came as a shock to both of you. I know I've done some stupid shit and I didn't mean it. I'm sure I've taken time away from you with Carlisle and Esme. But like, are you okay with me being here?"

"Eddie, you dumbass, we love you," Alice scolded me. "Why would you even question that?"

"Yeah, what she said." Emmett nodded in Alice's direction with a frown on his face. "Why the hell would you question that?"

"I don't know really." My eyes nervously darted back and forth between them. "It was just a stupid question that popped into my head."

"The only thing I'm not okay with is the time we missed out on with you." Emmett's voice was sad and low. "I could've had another partner in crime."

"Maybe you could've saved my Barbies for me." Alice glared at Emmett, who quickly looked away from her.

Remembering the day I had found one of Alice's headless dolls in the tree house, I decided to question Emmett on his and Jasper's motives behind their Marie Antoinette haircut of poor Barbie. "Why the hell did you behead her Barbies anyway?"

"How'd you know what they did to my Barbies?" Alice's attention was now focused on me. "You weren't here."

"I, uh…." I trailed off as Emmett glared in my direction. He was going to disown me! "Sorry, man! You left her there all alone and I found her!"

"You found one of my Barbies recently?" Alice asked with a hand over her chest. Okay, now she was being overly dramatic. "Where?"

"I was walking in the woods one day and found Emmett and Jasper's old tree house." I remembered that entire day a little too well. My visit to the Masen house, finding the tree house, and then Esme crying out on the back porch crying because she thought I left. "I went inside and was looking around and… sorry, bro, but I found one of your decapitated Barbies in a shoe box."

"You fink!" Emmett leaned forward on the palms of his hands. He reminded me of an animal ready to rush.

"You freakin' decapitator!"

Emmett looked away from me and toward Alice. "Your boy Jazzy did it too!"

"Okay, you two, knock it the hell off! Emmett, apologize to Alice for ruining her Barbies." At that moment, I thought I saw what my role in the family would've been had I been around. I would have been the one to accidently bring up shit only to have to diffuse the situation. Kind of like the peace maker, only much dumber since I had originally brought up what they were now arguing about.

"You want me to what?" Emmett asked.

"Oh, be a big boy and apologize to your sister for ruining what I'm sure was one of her favorite toys," I instructed him.

Emmett glared at me again, and I was glad that I knew the real Emmett. Anyone that didn't know him would think that they would be beaten up at any moment. Truthfully, I knew I had a good chance of ending up in a headlock. "Fine," he said. "Alice, I'm sorry we decapitated your Barbies. I don't even remember why we did it."

"Thank you," Alice lay back down on the floor. "I'm glad you've outgrown messin' with my shit."

"You've messed with my shit too, sister dear," Emmett said. "Who ran over one of my Transformers with her bike so many times that it wouldn't transform anymore?"

"I'm sorry, but I only did that to get back at you for all my headless Barbies." It was quite funny to see Alice trying to look up at Emmett from the floor. Her neck was probably tired from glancing up at him already. "You pissed me off one too many times with that shit."

"Yeah, yeah." Emmett rolled his eyes and groaned. "Ah, hold on, wait a minute." He rose from his position on the floor and headed toward his closet. Opening it up, he moved things around as if he was searching for something. Whatever he was looking for, it wasn't on the top shelf. He knelt on the floor and searched some more until I heard his muffled voice from within the closet. "Found it." Closing the closet door, he headed back to us and handed the plastic shoe box over to Alice.

Clearly confused, she glanced at the box before sneaking a peek in my direction. "Don't ask me," I told her. "I've never been in his closet before."

"For that alone you should be glad," she said. "It stinks to high heaven in there."

"Does not!" Emmett said defensively.

"It did when you trapped me in there for three hours back when I was ten!"

Emmett threw his hands in the air. "What the hell did you expect? You pissed yourself!"

"I only pissed myself because you trapped me in your closet for three hours." Alice had placed one of her hands on her hip while the other held the box. "What the hell did you expect me to do? I had to pee! Your closet stunk before you trapped me in there, doofus."

"Okay, okay, it's in the damn past." I needed a fucking whistle and a black and white striped t-shirt around these two. "Quit arguing."

"What the hell did you give me?" Alice slowly opened the box and then dropped it at her feet. "Emmett, you sick fuck! You kept them like trophies!"

The contents of the box spilled over onto the floor. Headless Barbies and mismatched heads lay on the floor at my feet. It was like a damn Barbie battlefield. "Alice is right. You're one sick fuck."

I kneeled down on the floor and picked the heads and bodies up and put them back into the shoe box. Standing up, I took one of the bodies and examined it. "Well, the good news seems to be that they didn't do anything gross with them. No strategically located holes have been drilled into Barbie. No extra orifices. We can wait until spring and give all the Barbies—and their heads—a proper burial or we can see if she's recyclable."

"I think I'd like to see if she's recyclable," Alice said sadly while picking a head from the box. "She was one of my favorites!"

Emmett reached into the box, grabbed one of the Barbies bodies, and held it in Alice's direction. "Here, make a new damn favorite."

That's when Alice beamed Emmett in the forehead with the Barbie head she was holding. He got pissed off and split the body he was holding into two pieces with his bare hands. And the two of them started arguing for a good twenty minutes. I sat down on Emmett's couch with my head in my hands, contemplating if I should walk out and find Carlisle to diffuse the situation, continue to ignore them, or run to my room and wait for them to notice I had left. My chest felt tight and my stomach was queasy. I almost felt the same way downstairs when I thought Carlisle and Esme were fighting at the table.

Suddenly it was quiet and I felt a presence nearby. Looking up, I found both Emmett and Alice standing in front of me. "What's wrong, Eddie?" Alice asked.

My gaze wandered back down to the floor. "Please stop fighting. You're making me nervous."

They both sat down on either side of me. "He would've been breaking up our fights all the time, right, sis?"

"We don't mean anything by it, Eddie." Alice wrapped her arms around from the side. "We've always been like this. Stupid sibling shit, you know?"

"I grew up by myself," I explained. "Peter and Liz didn't argue in front of me. I didn't have anyone to argue with and avoided having friends so there was no one for me to argue with. I don't like it."

"Sorry, man." I felt Emmett's hand patting my back. "Alice and I did this type of stuff all the time. We didn't realize it would upset you like that."

"Hell, I didn't either."

Alice released me from her grasp but continued to lean against me. "Thanks for recommending recycling my old Barbies."

"Do you want the headless one from the tree house?" Emmett asked.

"Yes, please."

"I'll try to run out and get her for you before it gets dark."

"I would appreciate that, but you can wait until tomorrow during the day when it's warmer."

I felt my chest rise up and down as I started to laugh. "Now you're over doing the goody routine with each other."

Emmett lightly smacked me in the back of the head. "Picky mother fucker."

The three of us continued to sit on the couch in Emmett's room and talk. They regaled me with stupid but hilarious stories from their childhoods. Their memories—and laughter of their times together—made me want to make a time machine. I wanted to flash back to the past I was supposed to have experienced with them and see it firsthand. Listening to them reminisce would be the closest I would ever get to seeing their past. At first I was sad, but then I remembered I did have a future with my siblings. While I didn't experience a past with them, the three of us could make new memories together.

Alice's cell rang and Emmett not so kindly told her she had to leave if she continued to talk on the phone. "You know I can't stand all that girlie chit chat gossip crap."

"Yeah, it can get annoying," I said. "Hey, Em, I was talking to Carlisle earlier about stuff. What did you decide to do after graduation?"

"I don't know what I want to do with my life, so I'm going to travel and take a year off," he said. "Why? What are you doing?"

"I don't know actually. I've got the grades for college, but before Carlisle had mentioned it, I had forgotten I now had a chance of even attending."

"What did you think you'd be doing with your life?"

"Honestly?" He nodded for me to continue. "I thought I'd end up doing something blue collar like Peter or Liz. Cashier, bagger, retail maybe. I've always known that I have the grades, but we didn't have the money for school. A lot of scholarships require students to be full time. If I couldn't get a full scholarship, I'd need to work and I didn't think I could do everything at once."

"If you had the opportunity to do anything you wanted to do, what would you choose?"

"Really? To be honest?"

"Yeah," Emmett said. "What would your dream occupation be?"

"I don't know." I paused trying to think of a way to explain myself. "I've always been interested in medical stuff. I've always been good in science and math, but I've liked music too. Because I never thought I had a chance to go anywhere in my life, I never tried to concentrate or push myself into a certain area, you know what I mean?"

"You didn't go to the library and check out books on medicine and music just for the hell of it?"

It shouldn't have surprised me that he understood what I meant. "Not since I was ten and forced myself to stop being so damn dumb."

"_Now_ you can stop being dumb and start exploring a whole world of opportunities." I blinked about four times to double check that it was actually Emmett who was sitting next to me. "You can do what the hell ever you want."

"I don't know what the hell I want to do."

"Me either." Emmett had a wide smile plastered across his face. "Why don't you travel with me?"

"Are you sure I wouldn't be in the way?"

"In the way? Why would you be in the way?" He tried to suppress a laugh but was unsuccessful. "What would be better than to have my brother at my side, traveling and keeping me company? Jazz was going to go with me for a while, but that changed once the stuff went down with his parents. I offered to pay, but he's too proud to let me."

"What about the girls?"

"I've thought about that actually." Emmett turned toward me, running his hand through his hair.

"When I first came up with my little world traveling plan, I wasn't with Rose. I don't know about you, but I'd miss my girl if we were separated for a long period of time. I can't see being away from Rose for an entire year."

"An entire year away from Bella?" I shook my head several times. "I seriously don't think I could do that."

"So, let's alter my plan a little bit, shall we?"

"Whatcha thinkin' of, bro?"

"Why don't we go somewhere for a few weeks and then come back?"

I nodded with understanding. "See our girls, the fam, and then go and back on the road again?"

"My thoughts exactly."

That would work out better than the two of us being away for an entire year. I wasn't sure Esme could handle the two of us being gone for a long period of time. "I'd still miss Bella like hell, but seeing her every few weeks would make it easier."

"We can take our laptops!" Emmett exclaimed. "We can get webcams and then we can see the girls on Skype?"

"On what?"

"Skype," he explained. "It's a program where you can talk to a bunch of people at the same time via the Internet, but you can also video chat one on one."

"If we're sharing a hotel room, you're not fucking having video sex while I'm in the same room!" I warned him. "I'm not watching or hearing you get off with Rose."

Emmett started laughing. "Oh, hell no you ain't! We'd have to give each other privacy for shit like that."

I heard the distinctive sound of Sabrina meowing in the hallway, so I went and opened Emmett's door so she could see where I was. As soon as she spotted me, she ran in my direction.

"Aw, ain't that cute? She must have escaped when Alice left and she missed her poppa," Emmett said. "She's going to miss you when you're gone."

"Truthfully, I'll miss the little runt too." I scooped Sabrina up with one hand and held her in my arms. "I'm gonna go do some shit."

"Think about where you'd want to go." Emmett reached out and rubbed Sabrina's head. "What you want to see and stuff. I didn't have a set itinerary or anything. Now I'm getting kind of excited about this summer."

"Yeah, me too. Thanks for letting me tag along."

"Hell, I'm looking forward to the trip more now that it's going to be the two of us!"

With Sabrina still snuggling in my arms, I headed up to my room. I actually needed to do some laundry, so I gathered it up and took it downstairs to the laundry room, Sabrina trailing along behind me. When I got there, I looked at the washer and realized I didn't know how to use it because it was one of those fancy new front loader ones. I found Esme and Carlisle in the living room, snuggling on the couch watching a movie. When I asked her if she could show me how to use the washer, she offered to outright wash my clothes. I didn't mind doing laundry, I just didn't know how to operate their… er, our appliance and didn't want to break it somehow. Or put way too much detergent in and walk into a roomful of bubbles. How "I Love Lucy" would that be?

While my clothes danced around the agitator, I went back up to my room. Now that I had made the decision to travel with Emmett, I had to figure out how to break the news to Carlisle and Esme. Especially Esme. I wasn't sure how well she'd take it. Maybe if she knew that we'd be back she'd be okay with the news. Emmett and I would be together and we'd be stopping in for visits. That'd be better than going off for an entire year, right?

Knowing that I'd get lost in my research, I set a timer on my cell while I Googled various destinations in Europe. I hadn't been anywhere, so I was up for anything. It all sounded equally interesting and entertaining to me. England, Ireland, Scotland, France, Italy, Germany… hell, I was up for all of it. I thought it would be best for us to stay out of communist countries and the Middle East. Knowing my big mouth, I'd say something wrong and land us both in jail. I _so_ did not want to spend next Christmas in front of a firing squad or something.

I went downstairs and put my laundry in the dryer and then I continued to browse through information on locations. Puerto Rico, Barbados, Bahamas', Mexico, Brazil, Australia, and Japan all held my interest. Christ, the world was huge. Even though I had lived in so many states, I hadn't even seen much of my own country!

The timer on my cell phone rang, alerting me to the fact that my clothes should be dried. I ran downstairs and grabbed them out of the dryer and dragged them back upstairs. Since I hadn't been doing anything in particular that was important, I went ahead and put my clothes away. Standing in the doorway to my closet, I pulled the clothes toward me to see what I had already inside. I wasn't used to having so many clothes. Alice had ordered me a lot and I wondered if I should give back Jasper some of the ones he had given me. I hung my t-shirts in the back of the closet since I wouldn't need them much in the current weather. When I spotted the blazer I remembered I had technically borrowed it from Jasper. He wasn't home at the moment, so I went to move it to the back of the closet as well, but when I picked up the hanger, it felt weird. I removed the blazer from the closet and took a look at it. One side was slightly heavier than the other.

The throw away camera from the dance Liz had given me. It was there in one of the pockets.

I dug it out and placed the camera on my dresser and continued to put my clothes away. Oddly enough, it felt like the camera was watching me. Liz had taken pictures of me and Emmett that night and then Emmett had taken pictures of me, Peter, and Liz. I desperately wanted to take the camera to Chinook to get it developed but felt bad about wanting to do so. There were no ulterior motives behind my yearning. I wanted to see the pictures that were taken on the camera that night. Would it hurt Esme if she knew that I had gotten pictures developed? To some degree, probably. I didn't have to let her know about them though, right?

I immediately regretted that thought. Hiding the picture with Peter and Liz was what caused our big fight. How could I explain to Esme my need to have the pictures from that night? The last night I thought of Peter and Liz as my parents? Before my life changed so damn dramatically? I'd have to explain them to her eventually, but I was clueless as to how.

When I finished putting my clothes away I stuffed the camera into my back pocket. Sabrina looked at me from her spot on my bed as I headed toward the door. "Stay here, I'll be back." I heard a vacuum running and found Esme in the back room. Catching her attention, I informed her that I was going to run to Chinook and asked if she needed anything.

"No, dear, thanks for asking," she replied. "Carlisle went over everything in your car with you?"

"Yup, we went over everything," I said. "I think I'll be okay driving into town on my own. Is Carlisle here?" I thought maybe he could offer me some advice on how to mention the pictures and my intent to travel to Esme.

"No, he left already to go to work. He said he had some other errands to run before heading to the hospital."

Shit, well, that ruined that, now didn't it?

I drove to Chinook and filled out the information on the envelope for the camera. It was too late for the one hour photo to actually process the film today, and I'd have to come back and get my pictures another time. At least I'd have some more time to figure out how to tell Esme about finding the camera and getting it developed.

On the way home I swung by Bella's and was happy to see that she appeared to be home. I parked in the driveway, and as I walked up the short distance up to the door, I suddenly stopped and turned. Oddly enough, it felt like I was being watched. Charlie wasn't anywhere in sight that I could see, so who would be watching me? I shook off the feeling and continued onto the porch and knocked.

Oh, God, heaven help me, Charlie answered.

"Good afternoon, Charlie," I said as politely as I could muster. "Is Bella home?"

"Didn't I just see you yesterday?" He leaned back into the house and yelled inside. "Bella! Edward is here!"

Faintly, I heard her yell back at him. "I'll be down in a minute!"

"Come on in, unless you want to pay for my heating bill." Charlie spotted my car parked in the driveway as I stepped inside the house. "Did Carlisle go over your car with you?"

"We did that earlier," I said. "So I know where everything is and he went out on a test drive with him."

"Good, good." _Oh, Bella, hurry the hell up, Charlie is not great on small talk_. "What day did you buy those Seahawk tickets for?"

I nervously shuffled in place. "I believe it was for January third, why?"

"I was thinking of maybe seeing if I could pick up an extra ticket and go with you."

_Oh, fuck me._ "Carlisle has the tickets; you should double check with him. Maybe he could see if there are any seats near us still available." _Did I just suggest he go with us?_

"I should give him a call about that."

"He already left for work," I said. "He had some errands to run. Maybe try him, um, tomorrow afternoon?"

"Oh, yeah, I'll do that."

I was never more thankful to hear Bella's footsteps slowly approaching our direction from the staircase. Charlie excused himself and went back into the living room.

"Edward!" Bella flung herself into my arms.

"I see you survived ice fishing with Charlie." I breathed in the scent from her shampoo. Or maybe it was her neck. It smelled like that Pearberry stuff I had gotten her.

"We spent three hours on that damn lake and didn't catch a thing!" Her arms wrapped themselves around my back, and I could feel her fingers twisted into the belt loops on my jeans.

"At least you didn't freeze to death." I wrapped my arms around her as well. "I thought I'd stop by for a few minutes. Have you given any thought on what I asked you?"

"What did you ask me?"

"Bella, stop playing hard to get!"

"Bella! You better keep playing hard to get!" Charlie's voice bellowed from the living room.

"Eavesdropper!" She nodded her head toward the kitchen, and we let go of each other long enough to walk there. Bella pulled out two of the chairs from the kitchen table, and we sat down next to one another.

Pulling her hands into mine, I rubbed them gently because I was nervous and didn't know what else to do. "Bella, would you go out on a date with me?"

"We've been on a date before."

"I don't know if I want to count that night." The one and only time Bella and I had been together before I had been a Cullen was the night of the dance when everything changed. While I had some good memories, there were also some very bad ones. "I want to take you out where it's just the two of us and we can spend some time together."

We once again heard Charlie's voice from the living room. "Oh, Jesus, just say yes so he stops begging like a puppy dog!"

"How can he still hear us?"

Bella exhaled loudly. "Turn the TV back on or I'll drag him upstairs to my room!"

"Oh, no you don't!" The TV flicked back on and I heard an announcer's voice.

"Bella, will you go on a date with me?" I asked the question once more so she couldn't pretend to forget again. "Don't make me go all puppy dog on you. You know I can. I've seen Alice do it. I'm sure I can emulate her."

"Only if you agree on two conditions."

"Lay 'em on me." I was actually surprised at myself that I didn't slip and say "Lay yourself on me" 'cause that'd be fun but highly inappropriate with Charlie in the next room.

"The first one is that when we go out, you don't go overboard on me." I rolled my eyes at her, and she pinched the top of my hand.

"Ouch, woman!"

"I mean it!" She rubbed the spot on my hand where she had pinched me. "No going crazy on me. It makes me feel uncomfortable."

"I was talking to Esme and Carlisle and they suggested bowling, but I wasn't sure if you'd want to do something that like. The Newtons just opened an alley downtown," I said. "Or we can drive to Port Angeles and do dinner and a movie. We don't have to go to any place expensive. That Applebee's place was good and they didn't cost too much." Leaning forward, I placed my lips against the skin at her neck and a sigh escaped her lips. "Bella, it's not like I want to get airline tickets and fly off somewhere with you," I whispered into her ear. "I honestly don't care where we go. As long as we're together. We can go to Wal-Mart and barricade ourselves into a tent for all I care."

"I don't think they'd have tents on display still."

"Fine, we can stuff ourselves into one of those electronic trains or cars out front for kids and be the unpaid Wal-Mart greeters for the day." I'd have to get a few rolls of quarters so they had no excuse to call the cops on us.

Bella rested her forehead against my chest and sighed. I hoped it was a sigh of defeat. "There's a second condition."

"Go on."

"Call Esme and ask if you can stay and have dinner over here with me and Charlie."

"Will Charlie have to use a knife during the meal?" If he did, I'd have to keep my smart ass comments to a minimum.

"Unless he feels like picking up his steak with his bare hands," Bella replied with a wide smile. "And I highly doubt that."

I had no problem with her first condition. While I wasn't a cheap ass by birth right, I was still a cheap ass. Hell, if she told me that Charlie was working some night and she wanted to cook me dinner and rent movies, that'd be fine with me too. Well, kind of. I did want to take her out because she was important to me and I wanted her to have fun. And if agreeing to have dinner with Bella and Charlie meant that she'd go out on a date with me, then so be it. "Just remember, if I'm stabbed to death at your kitchen table, it's all your fault."

"Keep your big mouth shut and we won't have a problem, mmm?"

I called Esme and while she sounded surprised over my question, she was fine with it. She had planned on having leftovers to clean out the packed fridge. While I had her on the phone I also asked that someone put some food down for Sabrina since I wasn't there.

Dinner with the Swans went well and I somehow managed to keep all my appendages. I swear to God, I didn't know how the hell I did it. Making small talk with Charlie or with Bella with Charlie in the room wasn't the easiest thing to do. After dinner the three of us sat in the living room and watched something called _The Blue Collar Comedy Tour_. What the hell ever it was, those four comedians were funny as hell. Bella and I were on the couch, holding hands, while Charlie was in his recliner. As soon as the DVD ended and his attention was no longer focused on the screen, I let go of Bella's hand so I would be able to keep it attached to my arm.

"Okay, Edward, say good night." Charlie announced.

"Good night, Charlie."

"No, I meant to Bella," he said. "It's time for you to mosey on home now."

"Oh, gotcha." I rose from the couch and Bella followed suit. "Good night, Charlie. Thanks for allowing me to grace your presence during dinner."

"Yeah… well, it made Bella happy." His gaze was trained on the newscast on the TV. "Later, kid."

We both grabbed our jackets and pulled them on. Bella followed me out onto the porch; the bitter December air stung my cheeks. "So when do you want this date to happen?" Bella shoved her hands into her jacket pockets and jumped up and down in place.

"I promised to hang out with Esme tomorrow and then I'm meeting Frank and Irene on Sunday, so… Monday?" I asked. "Is that good with you?

"Monday is fine, and I hope I get to visit with Frank and Irene too," she said. "Your grandparents are really nice people."

Bella was still shivering so I stepped forward and held her in my arms. "You'll have to come over while they're visiting."

"Speaking of relatives visiting… my _mother_ and Phil are flying up in a few days." I didn't fail to notice that she had gripped onto my arm at the mention of her mother. "I'd rather not be left alone with the two of them for any extended period of time."

I leaned down and met my lips with hers. "We'll figure something out, okay? I don't want to ignore Frank and Irene while they're here, but I don't want to seem like I'm interfering with your time with your mother. Does Charlie know how you feel?"

"Oh, yeah, he does, I made sure he knows," she said, squeezing me tighter against her. "He's going to try to be around as much as possible."

I made Bella promise to call me if Charlie left for work and she felt awkward with Renee and Phil and then shooed her inside to the warmth of the house. I drove home, wondering how I was going to balance my family and Bella in the next few days. I wanted to try harder with Esme and to meet her parents, but I knew Bella was going to need me too. When I arrived home I found Esme asleep on the couch with Sabrina curled up at her side. Removing the blanket from the back of the couch, I unfolded it and placed it over Esme. Sabrina moved once the blanket was over her and wiggled her way down to the floor without waking Esme. I went upstairs to my room, Sabrina following close behind me.

I had the urge to write in the journal Bella had bought for me, but was too tired to do so. Curling up in bed with the book she had given me, I fell asleep with Sabrina sleeping near my head and dreamed of experiencing adventures with my brother in faraway lands.

* * *

**A/N:** I forgot to mention in the last chapter that _Legacy _celebrated its first birthday back on October 29th.

In regards to the Peanuts, the Little Red-Haired Girl was, for all intent purposes, nameless. It's stated in a Wiki article the character was named Heather in two specials, but even Peanuts creator, Charles M. Schulz, who wrote the screenplays, did not considered them to be canonical. en[dot]Wikipedia[dot]org/wiki/Little_Red-Haired_Girl

I'm taking part in a new blog and podcast entitled 7Stories. Feel free to check out the link on my profile for more info.

A link to a picture of Carlisle's "Nice Balls" boxers can also be found on my profile.


	37. 20 Questions

**Disclaimer:** Nope, still not Stephenie Meyer or V.C. Andrews.

**Long Ass A/N:** Well, well, what the hell is this? An actual chapter from me? Yes! Whoo! I have many excuses and even I'm tired of them. Let's just sum it up to say I couldn't seem to get my ass going on Legacy. Hell, I started writing another story, an Emmett-centric POV fic that I've always wanted to write, but I couldn't seem to get anything to come out of me for Legacy. Since I'm having such a horrible time juggling the stories I have out now, I'm not publishing the Emmett fic yet. I'm sharing it with a few people in Google Docs for input.

I wrote a future Outtake for MsKathy's Twi-Fans for Haiti and I can post it for others to see in March. I also wrote an Outtake for AnjieNet for the Fandom Gives Back Auction. That can be found under _Legacy: Extras & Outtakes_. The Outtake is from Esme's POV and has a tissue warning. Hell, I cried while writing the sucker!

So I screwed up and gave the Swans a DVD player in their living room when earlier I had put stated that they didn't have one downstairs. Um, Bella gave it to Charlie for Christmas? Whoops!

Not all the chapters are up yet, but I am slowly adding Legacy to MyVampFiction and The Writer's Coffee Shop Library. I'll put the links up on my profile here.

**Most importantly**--Legacy made it through to the voting round in the Bellie Awards! Do you know how ecstatic I am? Legacy is nominated in the category "Emmett You Want as Your Brother". I will not lie, I love my Emmett. If you like Legacy's Emmett and think he deserves to win, please visit the Eddie and Bellie's site and vote for Legacy. www[dot]thecatt[dot]net I think voting ends at the end of February 2010 (big reason why I wanted to get this chapter out!)

I'd like to welcome all the new readers to Legacy. There have been a ton of you! I'm assuming that you're finding Legacy from the Bellie nomination. Feel free to say hi! I love hearing from my readers. If you don't have PM's enabled, I'm unable to reply to your reviews. Someone posted a few nice reviews and I wanted to reply, but alas, I couldn't.

Oh, wait, did you notice that Legacy has a new summary? It's courtesy of ToTheEights at Twilighted.

Thanks to Lisa & Betty for pre-reading and Bridget for being my most awesome beta.

* * *

**Chapter 37: 20 QUESTIONS**

_Saturday, December 27, 2008_

_Dear Big Brown Journal,_

_I refuse to open any entry with "Dear Diary." That is way too damn girly. Instead, you'll be my BBJ. Wait, no, that's too close to BJ and gets me thinking about Bella and… I'll just have tospell out Big Brown Journal. Maybe Journal for short. _

_Okay, enough of my idiocy! _

_I thought I'd actually write an entry in you since Bella had given you to me with good intentions. Yesterday was a mixed bag of sorts. I don't even know what the fuck that means. I talked more with Carlisle and Esme. It was nice to learn more about Esme's side of my family. Her parents are coming to visit tomorrow, and I'm a little nervous about meeting them for the first time. _

_Everyone keeps on saying that they're really nice and normal compared to Carlisle's family, but they've known them for their entire lives. I'm worried about what they're going to expect from me. Are they going to be pushy like Esme? I want them to like me and I want to like them too, but I don't know. I've never had grandparents before, and I really don't know how this entire grandparent deal works._

_Esme didn't get on my nerves once yesterday, even when she touched me and said that she loved me and Carlisle—verbal diarrhea and all. Truthfully, I was surprised with myself. A few weeks ago I think that shit would've annoyed the hell out of me. I'm trying to try harder to accept her and to let her into my heart more. I know she's my mother and that she's a good person. I'm just having a hard time coming up with an equation where in the end it equals loving her._

_Emmett, Alice, and I talked up in Emmett's room for a while and it was nice spending time with them. I don't know why Emmett and Jasper decapitated and then kept the heads and bodies of Alice's Barbie dolls. That's twisted if you ask me! It was funny when Alice threw one of the Barbie heads at Emmett, but then I thought I was going to hyperventilate or something when they started arguing. I didn't grow up with them, so I never experienced that type of fake fighting deal. When Peter and Liz fooled around like that there was a lot more laughing and I knew they weren't really fighting. Maybe I became upset because Emmett and Alice (and Carlisle and Esme downstairs) sounded like they were fighting even though they weren't._

_I found the camera Liz had given me the night of the Snow Ball dance. I know I need to tell Esme about it, but I don't know how. I want to see the pictures and I know she won't like that. I can't see how keeping them hidden from her would do any good either. Is this a no-win situation, Journal?_

_I stopped by Bella's on the way home and ended up having dinner with her and Charlie. Earlier in the day Carlisle joked and made a whipping noise when I mentioned Bella. Yeah, okay, maybe I am whipped where Bella is concerned, but I love her and can't help it. Jesus, what am I going to be like when we finally take the next step and go all the way? _

_I think I need a desk for my room. I'm lying here on my bed and Sabrina keeps on trying to lay on you. _

_Later,_

_-E_

Okay, so that was entirely fucking stupid and probably not therapeutic in the least little bit. Moving Sabrina aside so I could close the journal, I inched my way forward, opened the drawer in the nightstand, and placed it inside. The old family picture with Peter and Liz was back in the drawer, face down, and the journal rested on top of it. I had put the money and pocket watch back in the drawer while the blanket was folded at the foot of my bed.

Instead of getting up right away and heading downstairs, I lay on my bed and played with Sabrina. She was currently hyper and easy to excite. I grabbed the laser light and shined it on the wall, watching as Sabrina tried to catch it with her paws. The little nutcase even ran in circles trying to chase down the ever elusive light. I wasn't quite sure why, but I was laughing my ass off at her antics before I decided to go downstairs so Esme and I could head out.

Esme informed me that there were two places in Forks where I could get my hair cut. One place had the word "Salon" in the title, and I was not looking forward to stepping into that building. Esme wanted to get something done to her eyebrows and said that the Salon was her usual place. I was not a girl and wasn't getting my nails done or hopping in a tanning bed. What I needed was someone who knew how to use a pair of scissors to cut my hair. That was all. I'd take that guy in the movie with scissors as hands if he was available. I needed my hair cut; I didn't need to be made up all pretty. In the end I caved for Esme, and we headed for the Salon, my manhood securely tucked between my legs.

We waited together, flipping through slightly outdated magazines, until they were ready for us. I was glad to see other men at the salon, though I'd have to say most of them kept their eyes downcast in embarrassment much like I did. A woman named Violet ended up cutting my hair, and out of the corner of my eye I could see some obviously flamboyant gay man working on Esme's eyebrows. Whatever he was doing didn't appear to be painful but then Violet informed me that Victor was using hot wax. On Esme's face. Hot wax. Ouch! Women were weird, but then again, they give birth and managed to push something the size of a watermelon through something the size of a lemon. I came to the conclusion that either women were more masochistic than I originally thought or just fucking insane. That damn owl never figured out how many licks it took to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop because he always bit it. Like him, I'd probably never know the answer to my question, but it wasn't because I was going around biting every female. That'd be downright odd.

Violet was nice but talkative, asking me how I was doing. I offered little information, answering as little as possible in order to keep my privacy. I overheard Esme talking to Victor, but I didn't know Violet and didn't have a history with her. If I had to talk to someone about my life I'd much rather talk with Bella or another member of my family than some stranger cutting my hair. I didn't know how women could tell the people who cut their hair everything about their lives. Was I missing something?

I had to admit that Violet was good at her job and didn't cut my hair too short. Actually, my remaining hair was still unruly and refused to stay down even when Violet put some gel in it. Not accustomed to the feeling of some crap in my hair, I ran my hand through it, messing it up. That felt much more like me.

Surprisingly, we headed to Sully's Drive-In where we were going to have lunch. It wasn't the type of place I could really see Esme in, but Forks didn't really have anything upscale.

I knew that I needed to talk to Esme, but it was hard to bring up certain subjects with her and we were awkward with each other. Why was it so much easier to talk to Carlisle? Examining the menu, I wasn't sure what I wanted and asked Esme for recommendations. While we waited for our food we sat at the table across from each other, not quite knowing what to say or do. If I continued to nervously drink my soda, I would've needed two or three refills before our food arrived.

"I was wondering if I could get a desk for my room," I said finally. "It'd be easier to do school work on it. It seems like Sabrina enjoys lying on whatever I'm looking at."

"Of course dear, I never thought to put a desk in your room," she said apolitically. "We can go to Port Angeles if you'd like."

"What about the thrift store next to the Clothing Bank?"

"I highly doubt they'd have something in decent shape." Esme had probably never stepped foot in the building. I thought it'd be easier to search Forks for a desk first before driving an hour away.

"I don't need anything fancy," I explained. "I just need something to sit at and use my laptop and do my school work."

"We can always go to Wal-Mart."

"Oh, that'd be good," I said. "Don't tell Alice, but Tony and Jan gave me a gift card to Wal-Mart."

"Honey, don't be ridiculous!" Esme was smiling at me. "If you need a desk, your father and I don't expect you to buy it. Keep your gift card so you can get something you want. Maybe there's some CDs or DVDs you'd like?"

"Maybe," I shrugged. "This whole entire 'having material items' thing is really new to me."

"Keep spending time with Alice, she'll break you out of that." Esme winked at me.

Our food came, and we made small chit chat during the meal. Even though we were both nearly full, we decided to share a banana split for dessert. While we were waiting for the check to arrive, I decided to broach the touchy topic of the disposable camera since Esme was in a good mood.

"I have to tell you something and I know you may not like what I'm about to say."

She sat straight up in her seat as if a rod was shoved up her spine. "What is it?"

I exhaled before I continued, my gaze fixed on her. "Yesterday, when I was putting my clothes away, I found something. For the Snow Ball dance I used a blazer from Jasper. I realized it was still in my closet and when I went to get it, I found a disposable camera from the night of the dance. Liz gave it to me to take pictures. I know there's pictures of them with me on there, but there's also pictures of me with Emmett and everyone else."

"Okay." I assumed that Esme didn't quite know where I was headed.

"When I went to Chinook yesterday it was to drop the camera off," I blurted the words out quickly. "I'm sorry for not being straight with you about it."

Esme took a sip of her coffee before speaking. "I appreciate your honesty."

"During one of our talks, Carlisle told me that whatever happens with Liz that I shouldn't shove our relationship in your face. I get that. I don't want to hurt you anymore than I already have," I said. "I didn't want you to find the pictures at a later date and have another argument with you. I won't put them up in my room because I think that'd be disrespectful to both of you, especially at this time, but I really want the pictures."

Esme wasn't looking directly at me; instead, her gaze appeared to have traveled to somewhere over my shoulder. She refocused her attention to me before she spoke, choosing her words carefully. "Thank you for thinking of us and not being selfish. I honestly don't know how I'd handle it if you had their pictures plastered all over your room. I think I could handle knowing you have one picture of them somewhere visible since you have others of the family on display."

"I appreciate you saying that, but I don't believe that it wouldn't hurt you to see pictures of them in my room. I won't put them up." I placed my hand over hers on the table. "I'll get another album to keep them in."

"Don't worry about me." She removed her hand from underneath mine, her fingertips brushing mine as she slid her hand away.

"I can't help it, I have to," I insisted. "I don't want to be stupid and cause more problems between us. We have enough to work through and deal with. I don't want to upset you over something I could think about and prevent." Sighing, she leaned back in her chair. I wasn't sure how to interpret her expression. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, why?" Esme glanced at the check and started digging through her purse to pay for our meal.

I shook off the feeling of uneasiness. "Nevermind."

"Why don't we go to Chinook and get your pictures?"

"Are you sure?" I was more than a little surprised at her comment.

"Yes, why?"

"You don't have to do that," I said. "I can go and get them by myself."

"Edward, we're out, so we might as well go and pick them up."

She more than surprised me with her willingness. Esme drove to Chinook and waited in the SUV while I ran inside to pick up the pictures. As I was buckling my seat belt, she surprised me again. "So, let me see how they came out!"

"Um, what?"

"Can I see your pictures?" She actually appeared enthusiastic about viewing them.

I hadn't been expecting her to want to see them. In fact, I had flipped through the pictures quickly inside Chinook before hurrying back out to the car. "Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'd like to see your pictures," she said. "You, Emmett, and Alice are in them, so I'd like to look at them."

Removing the pictures from the envelope, I handed them to Esme and kept the negatives safely in my possession in case Esme couldn't handle seeing me with Peter and Liz and started tearing the pictures up. She flipped through them silently, smiling now and then at whatever her eyes were currently on.

"You…you should get an eight-by-ten of this for her." Esme flipped the picture in her hand in my direction. It was the picture of me with Peter and Liz. "Get a nice frame and give it to Liz when she gets out."

"Um, yeah, maybe I'll do that." I didn't want to mention or talk about Peter and Liz in front of her. I didn't think it would help our already delicate relationship for me to talk about two people she probably hated. After thinking about it, I thought Esme wasn't as comfortable as she came across with even saying Peter and Liz's name—she had referred to Liz as "her" at first.

"You should do that with the other picture of all three of you, too."

"Using that machine with Alice came in handy," I said. "Now I can do that on my own."

"They came out good for a disposable camera." Esme handed the pictures back to me. "If you remember, can you get me a few copies?"

"Sure, any particular ones?"

She showed me which pictures she'd like copies of, and I hoped I'd be able to commit her choices to memory. Esme pulled out of the parking lot, and we left Chinook and Forks, headed to Port Angeles.

Much to my dismay, Wal-Mart was packed with after-holiday bargain hunters. "Look at that parking lot. We'd be standing on line for an hour. Why don't we go to Staples?" Esme suggested.

"That sounds good to me!" I said. "I am not a fan of lines."

"Sorry, I know how much you love Wal-Mart." Esme smiled, and I could tell she was trying to hold back laughter.

"I can make a trip with Bella some other time."

While at Staples, we did find a desk that I liked. It was a bit larger than what I originally imagined in my room. Not completely certain it would fit the area where I wanted to put it, we phoned home and Emmett went into my room and measured the space. While Esme had him on the phone, I picked out a chair to go with the desk. I was thankful that there was an employee able to come out and help us load the heavy items into Esme's SUV. I was not strong enough to lift the desk into the hatch by myself. Hell, I knew Emmett was going to have to basically carry the damn desk up the stairs to my room for me.

The ride to Port Angeles had been uncomfortably quiet, and I honestly dreaded the ride back. "Esme, I have an idea."

"That's always good."

"That was _so_ Carlisle."

She laughed. "I've been married to the man for so long; I guess I picked up on a few things!

"There's a lot I don't know about you, and I'm sure you feel the same way about me."

Esme kept her eyes on the road but nodded her head in agreement. "I missed out on your entire life."

My mother had missed out on my entire life, but I had missed out on getting to know her throughout the years. "Care to play a little twenty questions?"

"I'm game, even though there are probably more than twenty questions I could think of to ask you."

"I know, I have a lot I'd like to ask you too, but I'm not sure if I'll come up with all of them right now."

"It was your idea, so why don't you start?"

"Okay, gimme a second." I tried to think of what to ask her. My brain had horrible timing. There were a lot of things I wanted to know about Esme and Carlisle, but I'd be damned if I could think of what I wanted to ask right at that moment. "Why did you get into Interior Design?"

"I've always loved art, but didn't have the skills to actually paint a picture or sculpt or whatever," she explained. "It was a compromise. I could still do something artistic but in a different way."

"So you enjoy what you do then?"

"Oh yes, very much," she said. "That was two."

"Is it hard to find work around Forks because the area is so small?"

"Sometimes, but I've actually worked for people as far away as Seattle."

"Really?" I wondered how that worked and before I could say more, she responded to my unasked question.

"Usually I can make one trip to a location to see what it, take measurements and pictures." Her voice grew with excitement over her work. "Then, if the client is willing, we can do most things over the computer. I like to get together with them to show them the actual final choices just to be sure. Then, the ordering and decorating comes into play. That's four, dear."

"How did you and Carlisle meet?"

"We met in college."

"Did you think you were simply a rebound or did you think it would last with him?"

"The rebound aspect did come to mind. Your father and Bridget had been together for about a year, so I thought they had been close, but I was wrong." Esme smiled at the memories. "They weren't as close as I thought because of all their school work. They were more like friends."

"You lucked out then."

"Indeed I did."

"Six," we both said at the same time and then started laughing.

"Did you always want to have kids?"

"Oh, yes," she said, smiling. "I always had dolls and would carry them around everywhere with me."

"If certain things hadn't happened, would you have wanted to have more kids?" She didn't answer right away. Instead, she continued to drive. Esme's eyes were straight ahead on the road, her bottom lip pulled between her teeth. "I'm sorry, too personal?"

"No, sorry, it just brings up a lot…." Esme's voice trailed off. "I had a very hard time just functioning after you were taken. I panicked when I learned that I was pregnant with Alice and was afraid someone would try to take her as well. In a perfect world, yes, I think I would've had more children."

"So that perfect world never existed because I was taken away from you?"

"Right." Esme reached for the knob to the radio. I sensed that she was now uncomfortable with our conversation. Or maybe too emotional. "But things are looking better."

I felt like I had to walk a fine line around Esme. I didn't want to upset her, even if it was unintentionally. My questions had changed from their original direction and had gotten too emotional. Or at least I thought so. I decided to spare Esme for the time being. "I'll stop at nine for now and reserve my remaining eleven questions for a later date."

"What kind of music do you like?" Esme asked me.

"I'm all over the place with music," I said. "Oldies and rock are probably my preference, but I'll listen to almost anything. I don't like a lot of rap music, but I do like Linkin Park."

"You too? I can't believe Carlisle actually likes them." She laughed and reached for the knob to the radio before pulling her hand back. "Go ahead and find something for us." Esme had satellite radio installed in her car, so I scanned the channels, thinking of questions to ask her later on but coming up empty. The dial landed on 60's on 6 and I left it there. "Good choice," she said. "That channel is a favorite of mine."

"Glad I could accommodate both of us."

"What's your favorite subject in school?"

"That's a good one," I said. "I do like Photography, but it's not challenging for me. Well, it is in a sense since I can't remember the stupid manual settings. I'd guess Math and Science are my favorites."

"Oh, dear, you are a geek like Carlisle!" Esme started laughing, sounding carefree and happy. "I think Math and Science were his favorites too, and he gave me much the same excuse. He liked to be challenged. He didn't like courses that bored him or that were too easy."

"Sometimes, if it wasn't for the age difference, I'd wonder if we we're twins."

"Trust me, you're not twins." She started laughing. "Carlisle's my husband, not one of my children, though sometimes there does seem to be a thin line between the two. So, since you grew up as an only child, do you like having a brother and sister?"

"Emmett and Alice are great," I said. "I enjoy having them around."

"Do you regret not having siblings growing up?"

"Mmm, that's a toughie." I paused, unsure of how to continue until I gathered my thoughts. "You'd think I would've wanted someone around, but it never crossed my mind. As much as we moved, I never had friends, and after a while I stopped caring. I became numb to it all. Do I regret not having siblings while I was growing up? No. I think this would have been even harder if I had a so-called sibling. Do I regret not knowing my actual siblings? God, yes."

Now who was getting emotional?

"Do you miss them?" She didn't have to use their names; I knew who she was talking about.

"At times, yes," I replied honestly. "I'd rather not elaborate more on that. It's too…too much to get into. You don't need to hear it either."

Esme was quiet and I said no more. Of course I missed them. They raised me. I spent the first seventeen years of my life with them. Each day was getting easier, but I still thought about them in varying ways. I was sad for Liz and hopeful I'd be able to see her once more. I had an overwhelming urge and need to say goodbye to her. It would be hard, but I thought we would both need closure. On the other hand, Peter was a different matter. There were so many mixed emotions associated with him. I had loved and depended on him only to learn that he knew I wasn't his and that he continued to keep me from my biological family. I wanted to hate him. I knew I should hate him, but somehow, idiotically, I couldn't bring myself to feel full-on hate toward the man. For a few minutes we sat with the music as the only sound echoing throughout the car.

"You've lived in a lot of states, do you have a favorite?"

"Am I supposed to say Washington by default?"

She laughed. "No."

"I don't know if I have a favorite anyway. I liked New Jersey but that was only because we actually had money for a while. They took me places and we lived in a nicer house." I remembered why we had money while we were in New Jersey. Peter had contacted my grandmother, and she had given it to him as a continued bribe to keep me away from Esme and Carlisle. Those memories were now tainted with Camilla's greed. "But then I learned why we had some money…and you know what? It doesn't matter. Every place was the same."

"Do you honestly like having a cat or are you more of a dog person?"

"I was never much of either," I explained. "I never had a pet and never had any friends that had pets. Sabrina's cool though. She makes me laugh, which I think is a good thing."

"Do you really like _M*A*S*H*_?"

"Yes!" I replied, and Esme started laughing. "Why is that so hard to believe?"

"I was wondering if Emmett bought that box set more for himself than for you." She sighed as we entered the town limits of Forks. "If Emmett didn't catch you that night, where would you have gone?"

"Particularly interesting question, Esme." I hadn't even asked myself that question. "Carlisle filled you in on that, huh?"

"Yes, I know Emmett and Jasper helped you escape," she said. "I admit that I was a little angry at first, but after I thought about it, I was glad because I didn't know where you'd end up otherwise."

"I don't know myself. Maybe I would've gone out to the tree house for a few hours to cool down. Or I could've walked over to Bella's even though she was at our place." What would I have done at Bella's? Tried to climb through her window? Wait, wait, I should've gone to the police station to talk to Charlie. Egads, no. "Maybe I would've just walked around in the woods for a few hours, praying not to get lost. You know what? I'm not sure. Emmett ended up being there for me when I needed him."

"I'm glad you didn't wander around the woods by yourself," she said. "You could've gotten frostbite or something wandering in the woods."

Close to home, we both became silent for the rest of the ride. I would have to make notes of what questions I'd like to ask Esme in the future. Twenty questions seemed silly but ended up being a good way to get to know each other better. Pressing the button for the automatic garage door opener, Esme eased the SUV inside.

"You can get Emmett and Jasper to help you bring the desk and chair upstairs." We opened the car doors and exited, closing them and standing on either side of the vehicle. "Maybe the three of you can manage to put them together."

"Sounds like the beginning of a joke, ya know?" I laughed. "How many male teenagers does it take to put a desk and chair together? I'm hoping the answer is a minimum of three."

"You are all very smart and can read directions, I'm sure it won't be a problem." Esme turned and headed toward the door to the house. I followed behind her, but she stopped and turned in my direction at the door.

Knowing that she had something on her mind that she wanted to ask me but couldn't bring herself to, I spoke. "Did you _really_ miss me?"

Esme attempted to smile, but it came out lopsided instead. At first I was worried that she was having a stroke, but then I realized she was just having a hard time composing herself and speaking. There were tears in her eyes and she swallowed hard. "I did," her voice cracked. "I missed you _every_ day."

She wiped a stray tear away with her index finger, her gaze still transfixed on me. "What is it, Esme?"

"Do you think you'll ever learn to love me?"

A few weeks ago, I probably would have been annoyed at her question. Hell, a few days ago I probably would've angrily rolled my eyes at it. Today, I did neither. Esme kept wiping at the tears that were now falling more visibly down her cheeks. Stepping forward, I wrapped my arms around her waist. She stood there awkwardly, not quite embracing me. Her hands were resting against my upper arms; her head wasn't bowed down in the usual manner when you hugged someone. I could only guess that she was nervous about showing too much emotion in front of me, afraid that I'd get angry with her and run or shut myself off from her again. I wrapped my arms around her more tightly. "Go ahead," I urged her on.

Esme relaxed, wrapping her arms around my back and letting her head rest on my shoulder.

"Yes," I said without any further explanation.

I felt her breath against my neck as she exhaled and we both spoke at the same time. "Ten."

* * *

**A/N:** Can you think of questions that you'd like Edward and Esme ask each other? What questions would you like Edward to ask the others?

**Help Wanted:** Pre-Readers. **Qualifications:** Must be familiar with my shit. Must know how to use Google Docs. Must be able to form coherent sentences and give opinions on my shit.

In the mean time, please review my shit cuz you know I love it when you do!


	38. Butterflies

**DISCLAIMER:** Not Meyer or Andrews. Nope, not me.

**A/N:** OMG, it's meeee! I blame it all on Megsly and J.R. Ward. Meg got me into the Black Dagger Brotherhood series by J.R. Ward and I have not been able to put those suckers down. When I am consumed by a book (or maybe when I'm consuming a book?) it's almost impossible for me to write. It was like, "Oh, I haven't written in a month... (look at book in hand) and I really don't give a shit." Yeah, it's really horrible.

Quick notes: _Legacy_ didn't win the Bellie award. *sigh* Someone nominated _Legacy_ in the **Total Eclipse of the Heart Awards** in three different categories. I'm not even going to bother to link the awards site because I haven't got a chance in hell. I'm in the same category as _Emancipation Proclamation_ and _University of Edward Masen_. Yeah, not a chance in _hell_. Not even if hell was filled with cute, furry pink bunnies would I have a chance. While I'm flattered with the nominations and haven't the slightest clue as to who nominates me, I'm being realistic. _Legacy_ isn't popular like _EP_ or _UoEM_ and probably never will be but I just want to thank all my loyal readers for sticking with me and for your encouraging words either through your reviews or PM's.

I originally wanted this chapter and the next one to go together but then I just wanted to get this sucker out already. Ooh, if you missed it, I posted a future post-Legacy outtake called _Observatin' at the Bar_ that I wrote for Twi-Fans for Haiti. I also posted in the _Legacy Extra's and Outtakes_ an Esme outtake that is quite a tear jerker. My beta has a second small Esme outtake that was inspired by reader comments that I hope to have posted this weekend.

Was anyone else in Poughkeepsie, NY to meet Peter Facinelli? It was totally wicked that I got to meet up with a reader and hang out with her. Now we text randomly during Vampire Diaries about Elena's stupidity and I send her dirty text jokes. Oh, the joy of having met me, it's like a bad rash you can't get rid of.

Thanks to all my pre-readers and my beta, Bridget. (Hey, Melfred, I was going to ask you to be a pre-reader but your PM's aren't turned on!)

* * *

_Dates covered: Saturday, December 27, 2008 and Sunday, December 28__th__, 2008_

**Chapter 38: BUTTERFLIES **

We continued to stand in the garage, embracing one another. I held on to Esme longer than I had in the past, and it didn't bother me. I didn't recoil with annoyance. I didn't want to rush away from her. The entire situation didn't bother me. I was simply giving Esme what she needed—a little part of myself, and for the first time, I didn't mind.

The door to the kitchen opened and the light from inside hit across my face, blinding me. "Uh, is everything okay?" Emmett asked. Blinking to adjust my eyes to the light, I released Esme. She stepped back and turned to face Emmett. Her hands went to her face, clearing it of her tears. Emmett's eyes darted back and forth between the two of us. "Mom?"

"We're fine, Emmett."

He stepped forward, and I knew he didn't quite believe her when he took her in his arms. They whispered words that I couldn't hear to one another and when he let her go, he lovingly smacked me in the back of the head. "Don't make her cry."

"_Emmett_," Esme chastised him. "Don't hit your brother. We went to Staples and got a desk and chair for Edward. Please help him get them up to his room and put them together, okay?"

"Okay."

Esme crooked her finger at Emmett. He leaned down, and she placed a kiss on his cheek. "I am _fine_. Don't hit your brother again."

"Yes, Mother." She shook her head and headed into the house. Emmett stared at me. "Why'd you do that again?"

"It wasn't on purpose," I said. "We were talking and the topic got a little emotional."

"So why aren't you crying?"

"We were playing Twenty Questions and it was more emotional for her, duh." I headed to the back of Esme's SUV and popped the trunk. The box the chair was in was resting on top of the computer desk so I removed it, almost dropping it onto the hard concrete floor, but Emmett caught it.

"What the hell did you ask her?"

Stepping back, I rested the box against my legs. "It was both our questions," I explained. "I asked her if she really missed me and then she asked me if I thought I'd ever learn to love her."

Emmett hadn't removed the desk from the trunk. I imagined it was because he was waiting to see if he had to haul the desk over his head and hit me with it. "And your answers?"

"We both said yes."

"I'm glad," he said, finally reaching for the remaining box inside the trunk. "Especially with your answer. I hope you've finally figured out that Mom isn't evil or some shit. She just…she wants to know you, you know?"

"I know, Emmett."

I closed the trunk and we headed up to my room with my new things. When we passed Alice's room, her door was open and Emmett yelled out to Jasper. "Hey, Jazzy, we have stuff to put together! Man time!"

That grunting noise that Tim Taylor did on the _Home Improvement_ reruns I've seen a million times came out of the room along with some girlish sounding giggles which I hoped were from Alice and not Jasper. "Be there in a few!"

God, I hoped putting together shit didn't require us to revert to a bunch of grunting, moronic males. The three of us did manage to put the desk and chair together without any mishaps. The rest of the day was pretty standard. I helped Esme with dinner, and since Carlisle was at work again, the two of us continued our bonding time by watching a movie together. Esme was actually a good movie partner because she enjoyed the old movies like I did. We settled on an old Bob Hope classic that was airing on one of the many channels. At the end of it, Esme moved toward the end of the cushion and then stopped. "Question," she said.

"Shoot."

"What do you want to do after high school?"

I had been dreading telling Esme about traveling with Emmett, but now I knew it was time to tell her. "Actually, I talked to Carlisle and Emmett about this recently. I never thought much about my future because I didn't think I had many choices."

Esme appeared sad over my words. "But you do now."

"I know," I said. "I want to travel with Emmett. Mostly because I don't know what I want to do with my life yet."

"I'm glad someone will be with him." She smiled and seemed genuinely happy. "I was a little worried about him going so far away by himself for so long. You can look out for one another."

"Neither one of us can see being away for a really long period of time," I said. "I think we're altering his original plan by going someplace, coming back for a while, and then leaving again."

"Oh, good." She let out a nervous laugh. "It'll be better for me too."

"Who is your favorite actress from back in the day?"

Esme smiled. "I can't pick just one. I adore both Katharine Hepburn and Lucille Ball."

"Excellent choices." One of her eyebrows was raised, and I knew she wanted to ask me something else. "Shoot. Again."

"Do you really enjoy older movies, shows, and music?"

"Yup." I could tell that she was surprised at my answer. "What?"

"I've only experienced the other five kids in the house for the most part," she said. "And they like the up to date, current stuff."

"Well, when you grow up without cable and are used to watching reruns of old shows on whatever local station you can get, you get assimilated to it," I explained. "They didn't want me watching shoot 'em up movies or anything gory. When one of us had a library card there were times we could check out movies, and the best selection was sometimes the classics. It's what I grew up with, so I don't mind it." I shrugged at my words, wondering what type of television shows, movies, and music I'd like if I had grown up with my family. Would I have ended up sitting here watching movies with Esme? Or would I only enjoy the latest hits like Emmett and Alice?

"Do you have a favorite old movie or one that sticks out the most?"

"Funny you ask that," I said. "It stars one of your favorite red heads. Ever hear of _Five Came Back_?"

"Yes!" Esme smiled at me. "I'm surprised you have."

"It was either that or _Howard the Duck_," I said. "I'm sure _Howard_ is not a classic by your standards."

She threw her head back in laughter and fell back against the couch. It was nice to see her smile and laugh. "No, it's not!"

When her laughter died down, I spoke. "Esme? I'm not a disappointment to you, am I?" Whoa, where the hell had that come from?

Esme's hand moved forward on the couch like she wanted to reach out for me, but she pulled away. "Of course you're not a disappointment to me. How could you ever think that? I know now that you're trying your best."

"I am now, I should've tried sooner," I said. "What do you find the most surprising about me? Personality wise, I guess."

"You're so much like your father it's not funny."

"I've heard that before."

Esme sat back up and looked at me. "Only because it's true," she said. "You're kind, caring, loving, thoughtful, funny, sarcastic, wise beyond your years, the verbal diarrhea, and um, well, you're a little weird."

"Hey! I was agreeing with you until you got to the end there." She winked at me and started laughing. "Is Carlisle gullible too?"

"Sometimes." Esme patted my hand as if she was apologizing to me. "I think he's more confident than you, but he wavers at times."

"Please tell me he doesn't waver as he's about to operate!"

"No, no, that's one area he's confident in," she said. "That and being a father."

I nodded in agreement. "Carlisle seems like a good father to Emmett and Alice."

"He is." Esme's expression was happy. "I think he's a great father. I know the two of you have talked and I'm glad. You need someone to talk to sometimes and I'm glad that Carlisle can be there for you."

Her expression changed in the tiniest way. Her eyes were sad. I knew that she wished that I went to her for things. "You seem like a good mother," I blurted out.

God damned verbal diarrhea.

"Edward, you don't have to say that."

Did she think I was lying? "Emmett wanted to kick my butt out in the garage when he thought something was going on. If he didn't love you, then he wouldn't have smacked me. You've been doing something right all these years." She turned her face away from me so I couldn't see her expression. I wasn't sure if I pissed her off or made her happy. "Look, we had a good day. Before I screw this up, I'm going to go upstairs."

Esme glanced quickly at the ceiling before turning back to me. "You're not screwing anything up." She rose from the couch and stood, so I did too. "I'm going to make sure everything is locked up and then head upstairs myself."

"Okay." I got up and started to walk past her, but stopped. Leaning down toward her, I kissed her cheek like I had seen Emmett do so many times. "Good night."

She seemed a little flustered at my gesture. "Goodnight, Edward. I enjoyed our time together today."

"Me too." I scooped up Sabrina as I passed her curled up on the rug and headed up to my room. Not really tired yet, I had wanted to retreat to my room when it seemed like I had put my foot in my mouth. Things had been going well with Esme and I didn't want to ruin our progress. I sat on my bed and put Sabrina down. She stretched out, watching me as I dug my journal out of my dresser drawer. I walked over to my desk and used it for the first time while Sabrina did whatever half-asleep cats did (which seemed to be to go back to sleep or to start cleaning themselves).

_Dear Journal,_

_Today was a really good day—probably the best in a long time. I spent a few hours alone with Esme. While there were some rocky rough patches, overall, the time we spent together was good for both of us. At least, I think so. I told her about the camera and having taken it to Chinook. I could tell that she kept her cool when underneath, she really didn't want to. I'll keep my word to her and not hang up any pictures with Peter and Liz in them. Even though she said otherwise, I know it would hurt her._

_I initiated a round of 20 Questions so we could learn more about each other. I should come up with questions for Carlisle, Emmett, and Alice, too. We only got through our first thirteen questions today. I upset Esme when I asked her if she really did miss me. I'll never forget the look on her face when she started crying and said that she missed me every day. In return, she asked me if I thought I'd ever learn to love her. _

_I didn't think about my answer. The word "yes" just came out of my mouth. _

_I'll take that as a good sign. I know that Esme loves me and I hope that over time, I can return those feelings and love my mother back like she deserves to be loved by her son. All I can say is, things are looking better in that department. Tomorrow I meet Esme's parents for the first time and I'm still nervous. I'm going to pick up Bella to have her here with me when they arrive. Crossing my fingers it works out well._

_-E_

The next morning I woke to find Sabrina lying next to my head on the pillow, staring very intently at me. "What? I fed you last night. I can't clothe you, you can bathe yourself, so what do you want?"

Sabrina reached out, flexed her paw, and tapped my nose. "Ouch, hey now, watch the claws." She stretched, rolled onto her back, and exposed her stomach. I reached out and rubbed it, which caused her to start purring like a car engine. "You like that, huh? I think things went pretty well with Esme yesterday. We didn't fight and that's always a good sign."

Rolling back over, Sabrina yawned and put her head back down against the pillow. I would never fully understand women, and now I knew I'd never understand cats either.

"Well, I _wish_ you could tell me how you thought I did with her, but you can't talk and you slept through most of our conversation anyway." She purred louder, a sure sign that she was currently in a petting-induced sleeping coma. "Thanks, big help you are, you little fur ball."

I lay there a bit longer, thinking about the day ahead. I needed to stop thinking so damn much. My reaction to my grandparents couldn't be planned ahead of time because I didn't know how they would act toward me. I would just have to take it one minute at a time and excuse myself if the situation became too much.

I got up and took a shower. While I was in there I rubbed one out, thankful Sabrina had stayed sleeping on my bed and hadn't followed me into the bathroom. I would scar the little fur ball for the rest of her life with my actions of self abuse.

The morning flew by. I couldn't even remember what I had for breakfast. When Esme and Carlisle left to go to Port Angeles to pick up Frank and Irene, I decided to head to Bella's. I knocked on the door and anticipated Charlie's appearance. Sure enough, the door swung open to reveal Mr. Peppermint Patty himself.

"Hello Marcie." Charlie answered the door, a tall boy in his hand and his hair almost as messed up as mine. Either he hadn't taken a shower yet or he was off duty and didn't give two shits about his appearance while at home. He turned his head and yelled, informing Bella that I was on the premises. No, really, "premises" was the word he used. I tried not to laugh and he turned back to me. "How are things going at home?"

"Good, I guess. Esme and I spent a big chunk of the day together yesterday and I'm still here and not up on Cullen Mountain." I tried to be brief so I wouldn't bore him. Charlie surprised me when he opened the door further and invited me inside with a gesture of his hand.

Then he had to ruin the moment by speaking. "You ain't paying my heating bill."

"Would it make a difference if I was?" He scowled at me and took a sip of his beer. "Does Bella have a curfew?"

"Why?"

"I'd like to take her out on a real date tomorrow night," I explained. "I wanted to know what time I should have her home by in that case."

He stared at me silently and I wondered if he was doing the staring routine on purpose or actually trying to form an answer to my question. I grew a bit nervous before he finally spoke. "Have her home by midnight, ten on a school night. Don't go any further than Port Angeles by yourselves unless you tell me or your parents."

"Oh, no, I won't be taking to her anywhere like Seattle," I said. "I don't even know how to get around any place other than Forks."

"I kind of like that."

"Figured you might."

"It's small things in life that make me happy, Marce." He smiled, but it didn't seem natural. More like he was trying too damn hard to be nice to me.

"So happy I could force a smile on that gruff face of yours, Patty."

He exhaled so hard it was reminiscent of a bull and I thought he was going to charge at me. "Wise ass," he muttered.

"Sorry," I apologized. "But pretty much."

My savior appeared at the top of the stairs and rushed down to save me from her father figure. Hugging Charlie, Bella had one eye on me the entire time. "Tell Frank and Irene that I said hello," Charlie said. "I would like to try to get over there to see them while they're here."

"Too bad the lake is too frozen now or you and Frank could go ice fishing."

"Too bad indeed."

"Sounds highly exciting," I said. "The ice fishing I mean."

My words didn't sound too damn convincing. Charlie stared at me with Bella still halfway in his arms, one eyebrow raised much higher than the other. "Wise ass."

"I'm sensing some déjà vu here, Patty."

Bella stifled some laughter. "Edward, let's go before you get yourself killed."

"Thank you for sensing when I'm about to get myself put six feet under."

Bella rushed in my direction and practically pulled me out the door. From behind us I heard Charlie sigh and the door slammed shut. "You know, just when I fully believe that Charlie actually may like you, you go and do something like _that_."

"Like what?" I asked as she dragged me toward my car. "What did I do?"

"Oh, hell, I don't even know."

I stopped in front of my car and sat on the hood with Bella standing between my legs. "Wait, let me get this straight, okay? I did something, but we don't know what, that ticked off Charlie, right?" Bella nodded at me. "You actually think Charlie may like me?"

"Yes, Edward."

"Okay, all that is as clear as mud. Let's go." Rising from the hood, I dared to press my lips quickly against Bella's. I never knew if Charlie was truly hiding behind the curtains in the living room with a shot gun loaded and aimed at my head. I just couldn't trust the guy yet. Hell, I was dating his little girl—he'd never be able to trust me, at least in his mind.

I did the entire gentlemanly thing and opened the passenger side door for Bella. From the look on her face, I wasn't sure if she was surprised or shocked at my actions. When we got back to my house, I was too damn nervous over meeting Frank and Irene to even think about having a make out session with Bella. Okay, that was a lie. I thought about it, but I was entirely too nervous to actually follow through. The thought of throwing up in her mouth wasn't really appealing to me. I was sure she would have agreed and thanked me for saving her the trouble. We were in the back room with my siblings and their other halves, waiting for our turn on the Wii, when I heard the front door open. My stomach had already been a massive graveyard for tons of dead butterflies when a new massive cocoon of them opened up and started flying around. Is this what it felt like when Alice had panic attacks? All these feelings were not a freakin' walk in the park, I can tell you that!

_Oh, God, please let me be able to say hello without throwing up on their shoes._

Bella must have been able to sense my nervousness and grabbed my hand while Alice and Emmett ran to greet our grandparents. "Breathe, Edward. It's okay. Frank and Irene are really nice, okay? They just want to meet you."

"I know, but what do they expect from me?"

"For you to be able to greet them with a full, complete sentence and be able to say hello."

"That's not what I meant and you know it." I shifted forward on the couch, placing my elbows on my knees with my face resting in my hands. "I'm nervous."

"I know you're nervous, son." Bella and I turned to see Carlisle a few feet away from the couch. "They know it too. They're not going to bite and maim you. We're not throwing you into a den of lions either. We'll all be right there with you."

Bella rose from the couch and stood with her hand extended to me. Still, I hesitated. "I am not a statue and will not stay here like this all day. Get a move on, buddy." Carlisle stifled a laugh. Exhaling in an effort to lose the butterflies, I took her offering and stood up.

"You drive a hard bargain, woman."

"My next step was getting Emmett to beat your ass."

Unable to hold back this time, Carlisle started laughing. "I always knew there was a good reason to like you, Bella."

"Yeah, I keep your sons in line, don't I?"

"That you do." Bella and I walked toward Carlisle and then each of them was on either side of me. My father had his arm around my shoulders while my girlfriend held my hand. How much of a pussy did I appear to be? At the same time, though, I didn't care. I was nervous and, gulp, yes, afraid of meeting my grandparents for the first time. Three of us walked as a unit into the kitchen, my sorry ass being dragged along for the ride.

Irene was talking to Emmett and Jasper, her view blocked from his massive size. Frank was talking to the girls, his back to us. Esme glanced up and saw me, stopping her conversation with her father. He turned around and I saw my grandfather for the first. Frank had on a pair of jeans that had seen better days and a button-up red shirt covering his round stomach. A driving cap sat on his head, covering his salt and pepper hair. I could tell from his face that he had put in many years of hard work. His skin was rough, but his mouth easily formed into a smile when his eyes latched onto mine.

"Well, he's yours all right."

"Dad!" Esme chastised Frank.

"Oh, shush, you!" Frank waved a hand in Esme's direction. "Irene, stop flappin' your gums and get over here and meet our grandson."

He walked toward me slowly and I could almost hear the words, "Don't worry, I'm not gonna hurt you" come out of his mouth. Stopping in front of me, Frank extended his hand and I tentatively reached out and clasped it in one of mine.

"Hi." For a minute I wasn't sure if I had actually spoken the word out loud or not. The greeting was merely an eek, barely audible for human ears. I felt myself leaning more toward Carlisle for support and realized his arm was still around me.

Sensing my nervousness, Irene stopped where Frank had and also extended a hand in my direction. "Hello, dear. It's so very nice to meet you."

Irene didn't have a stomach like Frank, but she came across in much the same manner—regular, non-fancy, every day sort of people. She was also wearing a pair of jeans and a blue sweater. Her hair was very short and probably dyed because it was much too dark, almost black, for someone of her age. Various make up adorned her cheeks, making it too pink to be natural. Her eyes were framed in color and black mascara. I reached out for her hand and accepted it. "Hi, it's nice to meet you."

Thankfully, I was starting to sound a little more like myself. Some of the nervousness started to slip away, and I was sure that they could actually hear my greeting the second time around.

"We know this is kind of odd for you—"

Frank cut Irene off. "Yeah, it's not every day someone finds out they were kidnapped as an infant." Irene turned to Frank and glared at him. "Shit, woman!" He jumped two steps away from her. "Don't give me the damn evil eye."

"Please forgive the idiot that is still known as my husband for now." Once again Irene turned and glared at Frank. He took two more steps backward.

Bella squeezed my hand at the same moment I heard Carlisle speak. "Frank, with the way you keep backing up you're going to be out at the end of the driveway pretty soon."

At Carlisle's words something in me cracked. I started laughing so hard it hurt. I wasn't alone, though, because everyone else had started chuckling along too.

"I'm sorry, I was really nervous to meet you."

"Likewise, kid." Frank said. "We don't bite though. Gotta get yourself a girl for that."

"Grampa!" Alice laughed. "You're bad!"

"No, I'm just _me,_ short stuff!" Frank's eyes roamed the kitchen. "What's an old man gotta do to be able to sit down around here?"

As we congregated around the kitchen table, I thought I heard Irene tell Frank to "Stop being a pain in the ass" under her breath. Emmett and Jasper went into the garage to get two more chairs as the rest of us settled around the table. Frank gazed around at each one of us, pointing as his eyes traveled over us. "Wait, how many grandchildren do I have now? Does that make it six?"

"Dad, knock it off," Esme said. "You know that I only gave birth to three children."

"Oh yeah?" Frank quirked his eyebrows upward suspiciously. "Then why the hell have I been sending birthday cards with cash in 'em for five rugrats?"

"Because you're a senile old fool?" Esme answered.

"Ha!" I said. "Excellent come back, Esme."

"Hey now!" Frank's voice was excited. "Don't you know that we guys have got to stick together?"

"She's my mother," I said. "I've gotta have her back too."

That's when everything went fucking silent. Like as in you could hear a damn pin drop. Without looking, I knew everyone's eyes were on me.

Carlisle cleared his throat. "So, huh, Frank, you're just up for a few days, right?"

Frank shook his head as if he realized why everyone was so damn quiet. I guess it still wasn't every day that a kidnapped child who had been having such a time adjust to his mother actually refers to her as his mother. "Yeah, yeah, that's right. Too damn cold for us to stay for much longer. It seeps into my bones and paralyzes me."

"Are you a doctor now?" Carlisle laughed.

"Oh, shush you! I'm old and cold weather doesn't mix well with me. What the hell do you want, huh?" Frank turned toward me. "We just wanted to come up and visit. Meet the new rugrat."

"First time in my life, that I know of, that I've been referred to as a rugrat."

"You want an award or something, ruggy?" He glared at me seriously, no smile on his face. I stared back at him. Slapping the table, Frank laughed heartedly. "You're one of us all right."

I leaned closer to Esme. "Either you father has a touch of the verbal diarrhea or he's a tad touched in the head. I can't decide which."

"Oh, honey, it's a bit of both with him." Laughing at Esme's comment, I realized the butterflies in my stomach were gone.

Okay, so maybe, just maybe, this grandparent thing wouldn't be so bad after all.


	39. Afternoon Delight

**Disclaimer:** I'm not Stephenie Meyer nor am I V.C. Andrews. It'd be pretty damn weird if I was V.C. since she's been dead since '86.

Thanks to my beta Bridget, Lisa (you inspire me, love!), and all my pre-readers.

Thanks for all the wonderful reviews. I tried to respond to as many as I could but then I got confused to what I responded to and what I hadn't. If you ever have a question you can ask me on Twitter, email Edward, use the Formspring account or PM me on here. For all you fellow book lovers, I'm also on Good Reads. For info on all that, see my profile.

I bought a Kindle. His name is Ramon. I am in love. Y'all are screwed. No, no, sorry, I'm really trying to do better in the writing department. I've already have two pages done for Chapter 40. Part of Chapter 41 was actually written back in September. I'm trying to write a little each day - a minimum of 500 words. How much did everyone love _Lover Mine_? I'm still reading and savoring it.

I'm currently undecided if I want to participate in the Fandom Gives Back Auction in June. Make sure you read the A/N at the end for info on my entry to "Fics for Nashville" and what the title of the next chapter is.

**Warning:** This chapter contains my usual smut light and there's parts of it where it's funny, so be careful while reading and drinking (Seriously Lisa, you should know better than trying to eat while reading my shit. Tsk, tsk.)

* * *

_Time period covered: Sunday, December 28__th__, 2008 and Monday, December 29__th__, 2008_

**Chapter 39: Afternoon Delight **

As I sat at the kitchen table with my family, my nervousness slowly washed away. With Bella to my left and Esme to my right, I continued to be a part of the ongoing conversation and not just the focus of the entire topic. Even though there were times where I had no idea of what they were talking about, my family included me in their memories as they reminisced.

A few months before Alice was born when Emmett was two, Frank insisted on everyone getting away for a few days. He knew Esme wouldn't be completely on board as she was still an emotional wreck. The entire immediate family went camping and that included Carlisle's brother and Esme's siblings as well. Though his plan didn't entirely work, a good memory sprang from what did transpire. Irene placed Emmett into a table that had a metal turning basket which held an umbrella. In an effort to stop him from crying, Irene started spinning the table slowly in circles. Emmett seemed to like the moment, and so she started to sing.

"La la…la la la… la la la la… la la la…" Irene sang and Emmett smiled at her. I'd later learn that the melody she sang was from a Hebrew folk song named "Hava Nagila_._" I wondered why'd she sing a Hebrew song since we obviously—at least to me—weren't Jewish. Though religion hadn't been important to me, it did bring up more questions regarding my family. Did my family members hold certain beliefs? Who were we descended from?

Emmett's eyes were half closed as he spoke to Irene. "Gramma, you're going to make me fall asleep here at the table!"

I started laughing. "Rose, now you know what you can sing to Emmett at his bed time!"

"Oh, no, I don't have a singing voice!" Rose replied with a bit of panic.

"You'd just sit in that basket with a huge smile on your face." I could see that Irene was picturing the scene in her mind. "I'd clap and then you'd start to clap and you'd just get so tired and start to fall asleep on me. You were such a cute baby!"

"What on earth happened to you then, Emmett?" It was hard not to laugh while asking Emmett that question.

"Hey!" Emmett looked as if he wanted to throw something at me as Frank laughed at his side.

"Okay, okay, wait, hold on, which of you are my grandkids?" Frank asked.

Jasper laughed. "Didn't we already go over this?"

"I asked, but no one answered," he said. "Okay, all grandkids raise their hands!"

I didn't know how we managed to do it, but we were all on the same page as every single person at the table raised their hand—even Irene. "Oh, you bunch of… put your hands down! Okay, so hold up." He pointed to Emmett, Alice and then me. "It's you three, right?" Carlisle confirmed his suspicions. "Then who in the world are you other three?"

I leaned over closer to Bella. "Is he serious? Or is he just kidding around?"

"He _always_ does this," she replied. "It's like some kind of game for him."

"You, blondie, who are you again?" Rose and Jasper, who were sitting next to each other, stared at one another. "I was talking to the cute one."

"Well, thank you for the compliment sir, but I don't swing that way," Jasper said. "I've been dating your granddaughter Alice for years now."

"You two would look good together." Frank pointed to Jasper and… oh, crap, Rose.

"He's my brother!" Rose said. "In fact, he's my twin!"

"Oh, well now, no, we wouldn't want that, now would we? That's gotta be illegal, at least in the Union states."

Frank continued on with his silly misinformation game regarding the family. Emmett tripped him up when he confessed that he and Rose were actually dating. "Oh, you pick 'em real pretty, son! I've always liked her legs!" he said loud enough for everyone in the entire state of Washington to hear. Rose turned somewhere between one and five million shades of red while she laughed and hid a smile from the rest of us.

"I've noticed how Bella has been quite attached to your side, Edward," Irene mentioned. "Can I assume the two of you are together in more than just a friendly capacity?"

"She's my girlfriend, yes." Bella squeezed my hand again under the table.

"Ah, that's where I was confused." Frank punched Emmett in his bicep. "I thought you were with the brunette, and you sneak off and grab the blonde out from under me."

While everyone was still laughing over Frank's last joke, I turned to Bella and whispered in her ear. "I think I like them."

"I told you they were nice!"

Frank's voice interrupted our private conversation. "Hey, no making out at the kitchen table unless I get next dibs."

"No thanks, Frank, I'm not into guys," I said without missing a beat.

"Honey," Esme leaned closer to me. "If you hadn't gotten your verbal diarrhea from your father, you would've gotten it from _my_ father."

"I was screwed from birth either way." Bella started laughing from my other side and buried her face in her hands. Esme was trying not to laugh but was failing miserably. "Now I know why you were so patient with Carlisle. Don't a lot of women fall for a man like their father? Frank and Carlisle are a lot alike I gather, aside from the verbal diarrhea."

As everyone talked on their own, Esme gazed at Frank and Carlisle lovingly. I had seen that gaze directed at many—even me. "Yes, I suppose you're right."

"Oh, crap!" I turned to Bella. "Does that mean I remind you of Charlie?"

A look of disgust appeared on Bella's face. "Oh, God, no. You don't remind me of Charlie at all."

The afternoon continued on like that—sitting around the table in separate conversations until someone would say something that would bring all our attention to them. Frank told a story or joke and then we'd go back to our tiny group conversations. Alice laughed at something Irene had told her which made us all curious and pay attention for a few minutes.

At that moment I wished Tony and his family were here. I even wanted the aunts, uncles, and cousins that I hadn't met on Esme's side to be there. Smiling stupidly, my eyes scanned everyone and their conversations before I imagined what the house would look like with all my immediate relatives stuffed into it. We probably wouldn't all fit into the dining room like we did tonight. We'd spill out into the living room and back room. We'd break off into smaller groups and mingle between each other.

I felt an ache in my chest. Growing up, I only had Peter and Liz. I never knew what it was like have grandparents, siblings, or aunts and uncles and cousins. Now that I had experienced the idea, something in me yearned for more. Even though I was still struggling with Esme, I wanted to get to know my other relatives like I was getting to know Frank and Irene.

I felt safe. I felt loved. I was happy and content in those moments downstairs at the dining room table. I was smiling and laughing more than I had in a long time. The muscles in my face were sure to be sore by the end of the night.

And it was because I was with my family.

I wasn't certain that I'd get along and like everyone, but I wanted to meet them. Hell, I _needed_ to meet them. The immediate thought of everyone jammed into the house next Christmas came to mind, but that wouldn't do. I'd have to wait almost a year. Too damn long of a wait.

My thoughts were interrupted by Emmett's loud complaints for food. "Mom, I'm hungry!" His words were a baby's equivalent to crying. "It's past dinner time!"

Esme glanced down at her watch. "Oh, dear, the time completely slipped by me!"

Irene, Bella, and I helped Esme in the kitchen. Esme and Irene dove right into making dinner while Bella and I put together some light snacks to appease everyone's hunger for the time being.

"You like fooling around in the kitchen, huh?" Frank asked as I put down a plate of crackers with cheese and pepperoni on the dining room table. Expecting Frank to tease me about my culinary awareness, I simply nodded and said yes. "Don't be telling me we have a Wolfgang Amadeus Puck in our family!"

"Sure, I'll play the piano as I boil water." I quipped. Carlisle laughed as Frank appeared clueless. "Carlisle will fill you in. I'm going to see if Esme needs my help with anything else."

Turning, I walked away from the two with a smile on my face before I started laughing. Bella spotted the look on my face before I entered the kitchen and smiled back at me. She knew I was happy and in a good mood and because of how I felt, she was feeling the same.

"I want to take you out tomorrow afternoon for our date." She raised an eyebrow at me, and I cut her off before she opened her mouth to protest. "It'll be just the two of us out for a few hours on our own enjoying each other's company. Nothing fancy. I'm not the five star restaurant type myself so shush it."

Placing my lips on Bella's forehead, I gave her a quick kiss before I faced the expected stare down from her. Instead, she simply asked, "What should I wear?"

You could have knocked me over with a feather. I was expecting a protest but received none. Backing away from Bella, I stared at her seriously. "Crap, the aliens have landed again at the Swan house."

"Shut it, Cullen," she said. "What should I wear?"

I took a moment to compose my answer without speaking out loud. As much as I would have loved to see Bella bending over and releasing a bowling ball down an alley in a skirt, it was highly inappropriate. Not to mention that it was a public place and doing such a thing would probably cause Bella to be overly self confident and might even cause other perverts besides myself to stare. Couldn't have that. No way! "Jeans, wear jeans," I said with a shrug, kissing the image of Bella bent over in a skirt good-bye. Maybe I could manage to see that image in private some day. Without panties. God, I hoped so.

"You just went somewhere there, didn't you?" She had a hand on her hip and was staring at me like I was a deranged lunatic. If she only knew where my mind had wandered to… no doubt I'd have a slap mark on my cheek the size of her palm.

Somehow I managed to convince Bella to change subjects as we went back to helping with dinner preparations. Emmett and I went and retrieved the extra leaf for the table and installed it so we could all fit more comfortably around the table. Not long after dinner, tired from their flight, Frank and Irene headed upstairs to shower and relax. I took Bella home and since Charlie was not currently in our nearest vicinity, we took the opportunity to make out for a few minutes on the front porch until the headlights from his cruiser shined on us.

Damn. If only Forks was a bigger town and had a higher crime rate, I could've gotten more action with my girl.

Damn little Podunk town!

I made a hasty retreat from the porch and headed straight to my car. As Charlie passed me, with a scowl already plastered on his face, I dared to open my mouth. To this day, I'm surprised that I lived through that night.

"Do you need to smell my hands?" I nervously smiled at him, not daring to speak another word.

Charlie paused only briefly in front of me. "Get the hell out of here, Cullen."

I didn't wait for any further instruction and hauled my ass away from the Swan household. Fast. Inside the safe confines of my car, I breathed a sigh of relief and pulled away slowly and carefully. I was not giving Charlie reason to chase me down with his police cruiser, lights flashing wildly. I was not spending another night at the Forks police department. No thank you, sir.

Back home, I parked and secured the garage door before going into the house. Esme was in the kitchen, cleaning up from dinner. "Hi, honey," she said. "Emmett said to tell you that they're watching a movie in his room if you want to join them."

"You need any help?"

"Nope." She closed the door to the dishwasher, started it, and turned to face me. "All done."

"When can I meet the rest of your family?" I asked. "My family."

Esme's eyebrows rose in surprise and she twisted her hands in a dish towel. "When you're ready."

"I think I am," I supplied. "Frank and Irene are nice. I really think I'd like to meet everyone else."

"We're going to have a birthday party for Emmett during President's weekend in February." She continued to play with the dish towel in her hand. "And spring break is at the middle of April. If they can't come here, maybe we could go and visit? What do you think?"

"Sounds good to me!" I sounded way too enthusiastic for my own good.

"I'm glad that you like my parents. I was worried that my dad would be a bit too much for you to handle."

I wasn't sure I understood why she'd think that way. "Why? He continuously speaks before he thinks much like I do. You know, 'open mouth, insert foot' disease. He made me laugh."

"Good, I'm glad." Esme had tried to put the dish towel on the counter but picked it up again almost immediately.

"Irene is very nice. Kind of insane to think that she's been able to put up with Frank all these years." I wondered if Irene had ever taken a frying pan to the back of Frank's head. "I think I see a lot of similarities in the two of you."

"Oh? Really? How so?" Esme asked, surprised.

"You both seem… like you love your family immensely." I tried to figure out how to explain myself after having only met Irene for a brief time. "Loving, nurturing, and caring are adjectives that all come to mind for the both of you."

Esme actually blushed and seemed flustered at my words. "I… uh… thank you," she said. "I'm going to head upstairs. Carlisle's in his study. Maybe you'd like to email Lisa, Shannon, and John? He could give you their addresses."

"Ooooh, good idea. It'll give me a reason to check my email."

Esme finally put down the dish towel, and I waited as she turned off the lights. We headed upstairs and I stopped by Carlisle's study to gather my aunts' and uncle's email addresses. "I bet your mother is happy that you're willing to meet the rest of her family," he said, clicking a mouse to access an address book on his computer.

"Truthfully, I think she's shocked as all hell."

Carlisle started laughing. "What makes you say that?"

"When I told her I wanted to meet the rest of her family, she couldn't stop playing with a dish towel," I explained. "She fidgeted a lot."

"That usually means she's nervous and happy at the same time. Trust me, I've seen that before. I'm going to guess that your question made her happy and she felt a need to hug you but didn't want to overdo it and push you away." He handed me a piece of paper with the information I needed. "Write to your aunts and uncle. Maybe send them a picture of you so they can see what you look like."

"Good idea, I'd like to see what they look like too."

I talked to Carlisle for a few more minutes. As I passed their closed bedroom door, I hoped Esme was okay. I felt compelled to knock and talk to Esme, perhaps ask her if she really did crave a hug from me, but I thought better of it. I didn't want to bother her and maybe Carlisle was wrong. Deciding to forgo some time with my siblings and their mates, I headed up to my room. As I passed the guest room that Rose and Jasper never used, I heard noises emanating from it. Was something wrong with Frank or Irene? Were they sick? I stuck my ear to the door and as I was about knock; my mind was immediately changed by the noises from inside.

"_Oh, Frank!"_

Jesus. Fucking. Christ.

They had claimed they were tired from their flight and that they were going to shower and relax.

Shower and relax my ass.

My grandparents were having sex.

I hurried to my room and closed the door behind me, ever grateful there was bathroom between my room and the guest room. Part of me wanted to high five Frank for still being able to get a hard on at his age. Another part of me wanted to pour bleach into my eardrums and scrub them with steel wool Q-tips.

I really, really, really wished steel wool Q-tips existed at that moment.

Fuck, yes I did.

In my room I sat at my desk and started my laptop. As I waited for it to boot up, I wondered how I should introduce myself. I wanted to meet them, but would they feel the same way about me? Would they care about meeting me like Frank and Irene? Pushing away those crazy thoughts, I logged into my gmail account and created a new email. Instead of writing three separate letters, I decided to include them all in the same one. Why make an idiot of myself three different ways when I could just screw up once?

_Dear Lisa, Shannon, and John,_

_Hi! I know you don't know me yet, but I hope we can change that real soon. I met my grandparents—your parents—for the first time tonight. If anyone is wondering, there's no question in my mind that I'm related to Frank. Not only did I inherit verbal diarrhea from Carlisle, but it seems that I was doomed on your father's side too. _

Not wanting to be liable for any mental damage to any of my relatives, I decided that it'd be better to leave out the little fact that I had just heard their parents having sex only moments ago. I'm sure that'd go well. I could just imagine it. _"Speaking of your parents, I heard them having sex only minutes ago. Good to know they still love and care for each other. I wonder how much Viagra Frank has to take to get it up? Please send steel wool Q-tips at your earliest convenience so I can remove those noises from my ear drums."_ Yeah… no. Back to my real letter.

_So if you find me saying something totally out there or maybe blurting out some idiocy you can blame my genetics. I do!_

_Just so you know, I go by Edward because that's what I grew up being known as. If someone called me Anthony I probably wouldn't respond. _

_I'm hoping to be able to meet you, but in the meantime Esme suggested that we could email each other. I'm attaching a few pictures so you can see what I look like. I'm dating a girl named Bella who you may have met or seen before because she's friends with Emmett and Alice. Can you send some pictures? I need to ask Esme to see more of her photo albums._

_I don't know what else to say right now. I hope to hear from you soon!_

_Edward_

I attached some pictures that Alice had taken on her camera and put on my laptop and then hit the _send_ button, hopeful that they'd answer me back.

I lay down on my bed and listened to some music on my iPhone. Although I hadn't wanted to, I ended up being so relaxed that I fell asleep with my clothes on and without brushing my teeth or shutting down my laptop. Sabrina was curled up on the pillow next to me.

The next morning I woke up early, my phone completely dead with Sabrina licking my hand. Removing the ear buds, I sat up bleary eyed and not really wanting to be awake yet. My eyes landed on my computer and I went to it, clicking the mouse to bring it back to life. I had email.

_Edward,_

_Hey kid! I hope we get to meet sometime soon too. I keep in touch with Emmett and he's told me a lot about you. Don't worry, what he's told me has been all good. _

It was from my uncle John and that was the end of the email, no closing to the letter, just an abrupt stop. There was another email in the thread so I clicked on it to open it up.

_Geez, John, short much? Hi Edward! I recently had my computer crash so I have to dig out my pictures from back up. I hope you're doing well and adjusting to your new life. I'm sorry for the way things have had to go down for you. Feel free to email or call me at any time. _

_Lisa_

Following Lisa's email was another one from John.

_Sister, I was not being short. Shortness is your and Alice's specialty! Bwhaha! June jumped on the laptop and sent the email before I was able to finish. Edward–June is our dog—she's a Pomeranian. Harold gave him to me for Christmas. Oh, um, Harold is my partner. I'm gay._

Another response was below it so I immediately clicked on it.

_John, you're such a dumbass. That's how you tell your nephew you're gay? No, Harold is your very manly girlfriend who's a trucker and her parents always wanted a boy._

_Yeesh. Hi Edward, I'm Shannon, the cute one. I hope you're adapting well. I want to meet you too, but I'm not sure when we'd be able to get up to Washington. Drop a hint to Carlisle and Esme about coming down here to Florida. Have you ever been to Disney?_

_-Shannon_

Nope, I had never been to Disney. Wasn't that more for little kids? Or little kids at heart like Emmett?

_Disney? What the fuck, Shan? He's 17, not 7. And Edward, Harold is not a butched up woman. You're not a weird about the gayness, are you?_

Of course that was from John and it was followed by another message from Lisa.

_Knock it off with the short jokes, baldy. Gayness? What the hell? Seriously Shan, Disney? Edward, ignore Shannon, she's a fucking retard. Mom dropped her too many times. Or maybe it was dad. Either way, she was dropped and received brain damage. Come to Vegas and I'll sneak you into the Casinos. I know people._

_Lisa (the smart aunt)_

As their messages back and forth to each other continued, I couldn't help but laugh at them and wondered if Alice, Emmett, and I sounded like the three of them.

_What do you want me to ask him? "Excuse me, I'm a homosexual, you're not going to freak out, throw bibles at me, and preach to me, are you?"_

Esme had told me that John was gay, but honestly, it wouldn't have mattered either way—as long as he didn't hit on me.

_You are both evil encarnate. Shut up, I know that's spelled wrong. I admit that I can't spell, okay? Damn Grammer Nazi's!_

_Edward would've figured out John was gay when John walked down the stairs with a feather boa. _

_Disney is fun. It knows no age limit. You can't take Edward into the Casinos, I don't care who you know. That's illegal. Do you want to get your nephew arrested before he even gets laid? Wait, we don't know about that… maybe he was an early bloomer. Or a whore like Lisa in her younger days._

_I was NOT dropped on my head!_

It took me a moment before I could continue. I was not answering Shannon's question about my virginity.

_Shut up you two! Do you realize that Edward is getting these messages? He's not going to want to meet us after all this! I am not and was not a whore, bitch!_

_Lisa _

As I sat there laughing at their bickering, I was alerted to a new message and it was from John.

_Bitches, I am NOT bald nor do I own a feather boa! (Edward, it was for a Halloween costume one year, I swear!)_

_Welcome to the family, Edward._

I was really glad that they seemed normal and funny. It would make meeting them easier. I continued through the thread.

_Welcome to the family, Edward. – Shan_

_Welcome to the family, Edward. – Lisa_

I hit reply all to the last email and started typing.

_Y'all are crazy. There's no doubt in my mind that we're related. I would've figured out that John was gay when he started singing show tunes dressed up as Liza Minnelli. I used to throw small wooden crosses at the gays when I lived in the Bible belt but I've since ran out of 'em. _

Sabrina tapped me on the leg and I picked her up. She occupied my attention for a few minutes until I noticed a new email. Clicking on it, I saw that it was from Lisa.

_Show tunes, Liza Minnelli, and wooden crosses! Bwhahaha! This kid is win! Shit, he's one of us all right. I have to go for now—early shift at the hospital (I'm a nurse). I'll catch y'all later. _

Shannon and John both replied to my message (John said he'd bring a shield when we met so he wouldn't be beamed by a cross) and stated they had to get going also. It was still early on my side of the coast and unlike Lisa, I didn't have a job to get to. Turning off my computer, I crashed for another hour or two before being awakened by a knock and Frank's boisterous voice outside my door.

"Breakfast! Come and get it or your brother will eat it all!"

That warning was not new. "I'll be down in a little bit."

I showered, shit, and skipped shaving. Heading downstairs, Sabrina was hot on my heels. Once I reached the kitchen, I fed my feline friend before checking to see what Esme had made for breakfast. Ahhh, my favorite—her French toast!

"I talked to Lisa, Shannon, and John on the computer." I announced as I poured myself a glass of milk from the fridge. "They wrote back too. They seem nice."

Frank stabbed a stack of French toast. "It's all an act. They're crazy in the head. Your mother is the sane one in the bunch." Walking into the dining room, I sat down at the table, grabbed a plate, and started piling food on it.

"_Dad_!" Esme yelled from the kitchen. "Would you please be serious?"

"Life is too short. I'll be serious when I'm dead," Frank said.

"Esme, is there more bacon?" I asked as Emmett snatched the last piece from the plate. "The human trash compactor just shoved the last piece into his disposal."

As if on cue Emmett opened his mouth to show off the chewed up bacon inside of it. I could've gone without seeing that.

Frank laughed and Irene responded to my question. "Coming right up dear!"

Irene came in from the kitchen with a plate full of bacon. Setting it on the table, she sat down next to me. "Esme has her wits about her. Your grandfather dropped my other children on their heads. Damaged 'em for life." A slight smile tugged at her lips.

The rest of the morning was like that. We sat around talking and joking with one another. I learned more about my grandparents. Frank had been a truck driver, and like her daughter, Irene had also been a nurse. Frank, Carlisle, and I took a leisurely stroll down to the end of the drive way to get the newspaper.

"Any time you crave some warmer weather, feel free to come and visit us." Frank said. "Call first though to make sure we're presentable so we don't mess up your mind for the rest of your life."

"Too late, you've already done that." Frank and Carlisle stared at me, not understanding my comment. "Shower and relax, my ass."

Frank's eyes grew big before he started laughing while Carlisle stood there clueless. "You don't want to know Dad, trust me."

Once we were back inside I called Bella to let her know I'd pick her up around three o'clock. Quite frankly I was surprised that she hadn't called in a panic asking me when she needed to be ready. Didn't girls freak out and need _hours_ in advance getting ready for a date? Bella sounded, well, calm.

Emmett and Jasper pulled me into a cold and messy game of football outside. I had to shower again because I didn't want to stink to high heaven during my date with Bella. Before I walked out of my room, I grabbed my camera and shoved it in my jacket pocket. Sabrina followed me downstairs and tried to escape into the garage. Esme scooped her up and held on to her. "Charlie wants Bella home by midnight, so I should be home not long after that I guess."

Frank made a noise and then said, "Not unless Charlie is asleep and you end up making out on the porch."

I place a finger up against my lips. "Shhh," I said. "You're spilling my secrets."

Carlisle rose from his position on the couch and walked over to me. Opening his wallet, he handed me two twenty dollar bills. "Use your card, but in case you need cash." I took the bills and thanked him. "As if I wouldn't assume you'd try to get some quality make out time in with Bella."

My face felt warm and flushed. I scratched my head nervously. "Yeah, okay, I'm going to go now."

"Have fun," Esme said as Sabrina shifted in her arms. "But not _too_ much."

I couldn't believe she went there. I was expecting a comment like that from Carlisle or Frank, not Esme. "Duly noted. See you tomorrow."

I hurried the hell out of there to escape any further embarrassment from my father or grandfather. Hell, even perhaps from my mother. Closing the door to the garage, I heard Frank and Carlisle's laughter echoing loudly from the living room. I had escaped major embarrassment just in time.

Bella was ready and waiting for me when I arrived at her house. Charlie was in his favorite spot—his recliner—when Bella opened the door. "I'm leaving, Charlie!"

Without moving from his spot, he called my name. "Edward!"

Poking my head inside the door, I looked toward Charlie's voice. "Yes, sir?"

"Consider yourself threatened."

"For what?"

"Whatever."

I was thoroughly confused at this point, but I didn't want to argue with the man. "Yes, sir."

"Midnight."

"Yes, sir."

"Have fun, but not too much fun."

"Was also told that by my mother."

"Wise woman, that Esme."

"Yes, sir."

"You're burning daylight," he said. "Get a movin'."

"As always, it has been great speaking with you." No doubt the fucking highlight of my day.

Charlie's head flipped back toward the television. "Yeah, yeah."

Pushing me out onto the porch, Bella said good-bye and closed the door behind her. "That was weird."

"I'd have to agree."

As we walked to my car, I reached out for her hand and captured it in one of mine.

"Okay, I'm beyond curious," she said. "Where are you taking me?"

We reached the passenger side of the car and stopped. "I thought we'd start out bowling first, if that's okay."

"It's been years since I've gone bowling, and if I remember correctly, I wasn't all that good at it."

I shrugged. "Eh, that's okay. I've never bowled so we can be crappy together."

The parking lot was quite packed, but there weren't an over abundance of customers already inside. The citizens of Forks must not have believed in carpooling because even though the lot was crowded, inside there were lanes available. Mike was working the shoe rental and told us that if we needed any help to make sure we found him. He seemed at ease behind the counter and wasn't mooning over Bella anymore. I wondered if I could actually be friends with the guy.

We picked out our balls and appropriately enough I ended up with a blue ball. The fact must not have gone over Bella's head because I heard her snickering.

"I know, very funny. Unlike the blue ball I'm carrying in my hand, I have _two_ blue balls behind the zipper of my jeans."

My stupid comment just got Bella laughing even more. A girl with braces and bad acne came over holding two fountain sodas in her hands. She announced that Mike asked her to deliver them to us and then ran off to the snack counter. I turned in Mike's direction and half expected to catch him staring at us. Instead, he was working, his attention diverted to other customers.

Scoring was kept electronically, but it didn't matter because we weren't really paying attention nor did we fully know how the scoring worked. Basically, we tried to get the ball down the lane and knock as many pins down as possible, which was the object of the game anyway. After a while we started goofing off and we'd do stupid shit before we'd release the ball. Bella let loose and danced to the music that was playing, shaking her ass before bending over and sending her pink ball toward the pins.

"Edward, I swear, there was no alcohol in those drinks." I turned to see Mike standing on the other side of the railing, his eyes darted to Bella and then back to me.

"I know, Mike," I shook my cup and the sound of ice rattling around could be heard. "It's nice to see Bella having fun, right?"

"Yeah, it is." He tapped me on the shoulder. "You need a refill?"

Mike went and got us another round of drinks, and since we were having a good time I paid for another game.

"Mike, can you do me a favor?"

"Sure, buddy, whatta ya need?"

Removing my camera from my jacket pocket, I pushed it in his direction. "Can you take a picture of the two of us?"

He happily agreed and then managed to take a picture with Bella and me by flipping the camera around. Damn thing actually came out pretty good too. That is a true talent in my book.

After the next frame ended, Bella agreed to head to Port Angeles with me for dinner and a movie. "Bella, I have to be honest, I have no idea where to take you to for dinner," I confessed. "The only place I've been to eat in Port Angeles is Wildfire with Carlisle."

"Oh, I've been there and I like Wildfire," she said enthusiastically. "We can go there if you want. Their BBQ Chicken pizza is really, really good."

"Really?"

"Really really." It was a good thing that she knew how to get there because I hadn't a clue. On the way we passed Lake Crescent and, remembering my time there with Carlisle, I pulled over. "Is something wrong?" Bella asked.

"How hungry are you? Care to go for a little walk first?"

Bella shrugged. "You're lucky it's not too cold out today."

We each popped our doors and stepped out. Though winter had begun to set in, it seemed to be in the fifties, and when you're used to even colder temperatures fifty degrees is no big deal. Bella came over to my side of the car and I took her hand in mine. We walked down the shoreline of the lake and I removed my camera from my coat pocket.

"I wanted to document this day and not just in my journal." Turning the camera on, I still held Bella's hand in mine as I snapped a few pictures of the lake and surrounding area. When I turned the camera on Bella she rolled her eyes. "Oh, stop that, love.

"I don't like the way I look in pictures," she said. "I always look so fat with a double chin and just…blah."

I tried not to laugh at her lame explanation. "You look great in pictures. There's a great background behind you. Now, smile!"

She obliged although I think her actions were slightly unwilling.

"You know, I don't have any pictures of you either except of the ones from the photo booth."

I handed the camera over to her. "Snap away, dear."

I smiled nicely before starting to make faces at the camera. Bella fiddled with the camera and then said, "Okay do all that again."

I did my entire routine again, threw in some extra stuff, and even a little jig. Bella was nearly doubled over laughing when she admitted that she was video recording me or as she called it, "recording my asinine behavior for posterity."

"Bella!"

She still had the camera pointed in my direction. "What?"

"You're not playing fair."

"Who said anything about playing fair?"

Lunging at her, I tickled her sides and was rewarded with her squeals of laughter. I grabbed the camera out of her hands and turned it on her. "Do something silly for me."

"Ack, no," she said, putting her hands up in front of her. "I look even more horrible on video."

"Bella!"

She stuck her middle finger up at me. "I wish," I said. "Pretend we're in the bowling alley and there's music on. Go and throw a ball down the lane and shake your ass like you did earlier."

"Oh, Jesus, no."

I did some really horrible beat boxing or something that sounded like it should have probably been in a cheesy porn movie that made Bella laugh. "You _so_ owe me for this!"

My girl turned around and recreated an earlier scene at the bowling alley. "I feel kind of cheated honestly. You could've swung your ass a little more."

Bella planted each of her hands on her hips and gave me the "evil eye." "That's enough with the videotaping for now!"

"Okay, okay." I pressed the button to stop recording and turned the dial back to take pictures. "I want to try to get one of those pictures with both of us in it and the lake in the background."

We sat on a large boulder, Bella on my lap with her arms around me, as I tried to take a picture of the both of us. The sun was setting in the background and my first few tries turned out horrible. Her head was cut off. My head was cut off. One of us wasn't even in the damn picture. How the hell did Mike make it seem so easy? Finally, after several unsuccessful attempts I managed to snap a picture that showed the two of us. Thankfully, we were both smiling and there were no half closed eyes or other shit that would have made a retake highly probable.

Bella turned in my arms and I went with her. She stared at the sunset that had been in the background of our photo. The sun was just above the tree line and its orange, purple, and pink rays of light splayed outward getting darker the higher they went. "Beautiful," Bella mumbled.

"Sure is," I said staring at her. "Beautiful."

Bella face turned in my direction. "I was talking about the sunset, silly."

"I wasn't." Leaning forward, I pressed my lips against hers. "I was talking about you."

It was Bella that came toward me this time, capturing my lips with hers. We sat on that large boulder, my arms entwined with hers, our lips and tongues mingling for mere minutes but I'd remember those moments for a lifetime. We broke apart and I felt her shiver. "Getting cold? Shall we continue this in my car?"

She suppressed a laugh. "I think that might be a good idea, but the front seat is divided."

"But the back seat isn't and it's just waiting to be explored."

"Horn dog."

"Never, ever denied it." I started the engine, turned on the heat, and then I enjoyed the view as Bella crawled into the backseat. Following behind her, I locked us securely inside. "It's small, but manageable."

That day's make out session was a test in agility as we moved around the cramped backseat. If I ever bought a car for myself, I was going to make damn well sure that the backseat was large and comfortable enough for non-contortionists such as Bella and me.

The zipper of her jeans dug into the back of my hand as my fingers played with her clit and Heaven. Although the position gave my hand a cramp, and possibly the onset of carpel tunnel syndrome, she was on top of me when she came. Bella's face was buried in my neck, her moans of pleasure drifting directly into my ears. Her lips found the skin at my neck and she started kissing me, teasing me with her lips and teeth. I brought my fingers up to my mouth and sucked on them, tasting her like that for the first time. So that was what Heaven tasted like? If I could figure it out and not screw it up, I wondered what it'd be like to go down on her. Those thoughts quickly faded as Bella's hips gyrated against mine, my dick getting harder as the seconds passed by. I grabbed her ass and pressed her closer to me, which was really stupid because all it did was make me emit a loud moan. Bella leaned back and I felt her hand against my erection, rubbing it behind my jeans.

Reaching up, my hand deftly went under her shirt, cupped lefty from the Promised Land and gently rubbed it. "Bella, please," I moaned. During the eternity that it took her to unzip my jeans, my fingers found their way under her bra and played with her nipple. When her bare hand wrapped itself around my erection, I pinched her nipple and we both moaned in pleasure at the same time. I was ever so grateful that I had turned on the heat. I couldn't imagine what Bella's hands would've done to my dick if they had been freezing cold.

During the time that Bella's hand was on me, I had no idea what to do with my other hand. As my orgasm neared its crescendo, it flew up to the window behind me. I came and then we had the problem of what to do with the after effects. Bella couldn't walk into Wildfire with a handful of cum.

"Don't move or you're going to get cum on your shirt," she instructed. "Do you have tissues?"

"Check the glove box."

We hit the jackpot. There was a small pack of tissues which Bella used to wipe her hands and my stomach, and then she threw them away in the litter bag that hug off the back of the passenger seat.

She stared at me with a grin as I shoved myself back into my pants and zipped up. "Wow, that's so 1996 Titanic, Leonardo."

"What?"

She nodded to the window behind me and I glanced up to see a partial handprint in the condensation that had formed on it.

"Um, I've never seen whatever you're talking about," I confessed. "Is that a movie?"

"Alice has it; we'll have to watch it and then you'll understand," she said with a grimace. "I really feel the need to wash my hands right about now."

"We'll have to use some snow until we get to the restaurant."

We straightened our clothes and hurried outside and into the chilly air. Rubbing our hands in the snow, I noticed that my breath now formed into a white cloud when I exhaled. We warmed our hands by the heater in my car before heading off to Port Angeles. When we arrived at Wildfire and I asked for a table for two, I was told there would be a ten to fifteen minute wait. Since this was acceptable, we decided to wait and took the opportunity to wash our hands before diving into food.

Although Bella had given two thumbs up to the BBQ Chicken pizza, when we sat down and stared at the menu, our minds were changed for us. I settled on the Roasted Garlic Linguine while Bella chose to try the Fire-Roasted Chicken.

"Roasted Garlic Linguine?" Bella asked. "I'm so glad we did what we did before coming here. Depending on the potency of the garlic, you may not be receiving a good night kiss, buddy."

"Oh, I am getting a good night kiss even if I have to down a bagful of mints or stop and buy a toothbrush somewhere," I said a bit too loudly. The older couple at the next time looked up at us and smiled. Apologizing profusely for my loudness, I turned back to Bella. "You should know better than to allow me to speak in public."

"Damn, I forgot my duct tape."

I noticed that she was staring down at her hands. Reaching toward her, I clasped them with mine. "What's wrong?"

"I'm just now coming to my senses," her eyes were still trained downward. "I can't believe I did what I did in the car with you and it wasn't dark out."

"Bella, would you look at me, please?" Resisting my simple request, I raised a hand to her chin and tipped it upward and forced her eyes to meet mine. "It's not always going to be dark when we're together. Although it seems like it, I'm sure winter does not last forever in this town. Plus, the house has something called modern electricity, you know? The little fireball things that hang from the ceiling in the kitchen that illuminates everything? Yeah, I've got one of those in my bedroom too!" I gasped which made her laugh.

"I'm so glad I kept all my clothes on," she whispered. "Otherwise, I don't know what I would've done."

Our waiter came over and placed our food down in front of us. "Speak for yourself, dear."

The waiter lingered nearby before I met his stare. "Is there anything else I can get you?"

Bella shook her head and I replied to the waiter, "No, thanks, we're fine." My words sent him away, back towards the kitchen.

"I hope you're enjoying yourself."

"I am." She smiled widely and it thrilled me to no end. "We should do something like this a little more often. We're not together by ourselves too often."

I stabbed into my linguine and rotated it onto my fork. "There's nothing I wouldn't love more."

During our meal Bella stretched under the table and her foot hit into my leg. "Whoops, sorry," she apologized.

"Are you trying to play footsie with me, Miss Swan?"

"Well, now that you mention it…" Bella's foot returned to my leg, minus her sneaker, and snaked under my pant leg. I was ever so grateful for long tablecloths at that point. "Um… no, I wasn't." She laughed, and I could tell she was shoving her foot back into her shoe.

"Tease."

Full from our meal, we skipped dessert and headed toward the movie theater. While I was driving over, my cell phone rang in my jacket pocket. Digging it out, my eyes bulged at the name on the display and I passed the phone over to Bella. "It's Charlie." She took it from me and stared at the caller ID. "I told you. Go ahead and answer it."

I listened into her side of the conversation. "Hello? Yes. We're on the way to a movie. He took me bowling and we ate at Wildfire. Yes, it was good. No, he's being a gentleman." I suddenly went into a coughing fit when Bella referred to me as a gentleman. She punched me in the arm and was silent for a few moments and I assumed Charlie was speaking. "Wait, what? You want me to what? Are you serious? Edward is right about the aliens." I heard Charlie's voice, though intelligible, coming out of my phone. I guessed he was dismissing our claims of him being taken over by an alien once again. "Right. Okay. Are you sure? Uh huh. Okay. Yeah, love you, too. Bye."

"What is it?"

"Oh, I'm waiting to tell you until after you park the car or you might crash," she said. "It's nothing bad, but surprising. Surprising as _hell_." Bella tucked my phone back into my jacket pocket.

A few minutes later I pulled into a parking spot and put the car in park. "Okay, what's going on?"

"Charlie wants me to sleep over at your place."

It was as if the sky had opened up. The sun was shining down brightly even though it had actually been lowered beneath the horizon. Angels sang a heavenly chorus of some unknown song. My evening with Bella would never technically end.

Evidently sometime after we had left her house, Charlie Swan had lost his god damned mind. "Oh, dear, when do we admit him to the mental ward?"

Bella started laughing uncontrollably. When her fits of laughter stopped, she finally spoke again. "He got called in to case with a case in the next county and doesn't know how long he's going to be. It's complicated and he thinks he might be gone most of the night. Charlie doesn't want me to be alone. Your parents are expecting to see me at the breakfast table tomorrow morning. We are to stop by my house so I can gather some things and then head to your house."

I knew I was smiling like some deranged maniac. "Sorry, but I get to hold _you_ in my arms tonight. That makes me quite a happy camper."

"Quite a happy, horny camper."

"Well, duh."

We had to show our ID since we picked an R rated movie. I was sure when I was older that I'd be flattered with an age check, but at that time, it kind of annoyed me. Bella declined any snacks for the moving, claiming she was full. I believed her this time since I was full myself. She did ask for an iced tea and I was happy to fill her request and purchase one for myself also. It was a good thing that Bella and I knew each other well and had previously watched movies together. We saw what would be considered a raunchy comedy and not exactly first date movie material.

On the drive back to her house we talked about the movie and what ones from the previews we'd like to see. If it hadn't been for Charlie's phone call, I would've been in "depressed because my night with Bella is going to end soon" mode. Instead, I was giddy and in "get to snuggle with my girlfriend all night" mode.

I used giddy and snuggle in the same sentence. That really meant I was indeed happy.

When I parked in front of her house, Bella leaned over and placed her hand on mine. "Stay here," she said. "I'll be right back."

I figured her mind went to the same place mine did—if we were alone together in her dark bedroom it'd be hours before we'd leave. That would be very bad if Charlie actually came home in the middle of the night or if he sent one of his men by to check on the house and reported a car in the driveway. I'd rather put off being chased after Charlie and his shot gun.

Yeah, my girl was smart.

As I sat there waiting, I was brought out of my hormone-induced fog by a set of bright lights behind me. The glare flashed off my rear view mirror, which I thought I was odd. I was parked in the Swans' driveway, not on the road, and there wasn't a driveway across from them. The car had to have been parked in an odd position for its lights to be shining on me. Instinctively, my hand flew to my door and locked myself in. My eyes went to Bella's house, and I hoped she was safe up in her bedroom. I moved the mirror so that it was flashing the light back to its source. My eyes darted back and forth between the car and Bella's front door. The car moved, finishing what appeared to be a K-turn in the middle of the street, and drove away. My hand fumbled for my jacket pocket for my phone and there was a noise outside the passenger door.

Bella.

Unlocking the doors, Bella threw her overnight back into the back seat and then sat down. "Why was the door locked? You look kind of pale. Are you okay, Edward?"

"I'm fine," I lied. "I was just about to call the house to see what was taking you so long."

What should I have said? _No, I'm not okay. I think someone was following us and I'm not sure for how long. It could've been an axe murderer for all I know and like the chicken shit I am I locked myself in my car while you were up in your house. Some balls I've got._

On the way home, I stopped and got gas. I tried to scan the surrounding area on the sly, looking for any mysterious vehicles, anything that was out of place, or anyone that would be staring at our general direction for no good reason.

My search produced nothing.

Then again, I wasn't a cop. I wasn't exactly sure what I was looking for.

Maybe it was nothing. Maybe someone was lost and in the middle of turning around, arguing with a passenger in the car and had stopped in the middle of their turn around. Maybe it was another reporter, hell bent on getting photos and a story on the kidnapped but now found Cullen kid. Maybe I was paranoid.

Maybe I needed to speak to Carlisle and tell him about my suspicions.

Back at Casa de Cullen, I pulled into the driveway and stalled with much flourish, kissing Bella first, to make sure the garage door closed all the way before we walked into the kitchen. I was becoming paranoid.

Although it was late, my family was sometimes still awake and downstairs at this hour. Not tonight. We quietly headed upstairs to my room. While Bella changed, I dug out my journal from my nightstand and turned on my laptop. I quickly read through the emails my aunts and uncle had sent since this morning and vowed to reply tomorrow.

Bella exited the bathroom wearing a pair of boy shorts and a tank top. "Oh, I approve of your wardrobe choices whole heartedly."

She blushed and folded her arms across her chest. I had embarrassed her. "Shush you," she said. "Go and change." It was then that she had noticed what I had in front of me. "Are you really using the journal I gave you?"

"I am and I was hoping, if you didn't mind, that I could write a quick entry in it," I replied. "Why does that surprise you?"

"I wasn't sure if you'd actually use it or not."

"I'm trying to write a little bit each night before I go to bed, but last night I fell asleep before I had the chance."

Bella walked over and hugged me as I sat on the chair. My face was practically buried in the Promised Land. "Good, I'm glad. Nice chair and desk by the way."

I went into the bathroom to change and brush my teeth. When I came out, Bella was lying on my bed under the covers facing me. She held up a DVD case.

"Look what I managed to get from Alice's room."

"How'd you manage that?" I asked. "Alice didn't lock her door?"

"Nope and I'm stealthy like that." She had a huge grin on her face, and I tried to imagine Bella sneaking into Alice's room in a skin tight cat burglar suit with the _Mission Impossible_ theme playing in the background. My imagination was running on over drive. Maybe that was the real culprit earlier at Bella's house. The car was there—that I hadn't imagined, but maybe my reasoning behind it being there were all baseless and a figment of my over active imagination.

I sat down on the bed near her and removed the case from her hand.

_Titanic._

I studied the box. "Oh, Leonardo DiCaprio, that's why you called me that earlier."

"It's a long movie and I can see us falling asleep during it, but we can start it."

"Sounds good to me. Mind if I write a little entry first?"

"Nope, where's the remote?" she asked. "I'll watch a little Conan while you write."

I handed her the TV remote from the nightstand and then sat down at my desk. Not wanting to keep Bella waiting for long, I wrote quickly about meeting Frank and Irene. I told Journal about how nervous I was, but my fears were quickly washed away. I wrote about our date tonight, not going into great detail, but writing about it nonetheless. My quick entry took twenty minutes. When I was finished I turned to find Bella lying on my bed, her eyes still surprisingly wide and fixated on whatever celebrity Conan was interviewing.

I popped the DVD into the player and grabbed the remote. Snuggling in behind Bella's soft form, I wrapped my arms around her, seeking her warmth. Sabrina gave Bella a nasty look, evidently not appreciating the extra body in her sleeping space. She head butted Bella's arm, fell asleep in that pose, and then fell over and curled up.

Sometime during the movie, Bella did indeed fall asleep, but I couldn't. My mind kept on going back to the car with its lights on me. How long had it been there watching me? Had it followed us to Port Angeles? Had someone from the vehicle sat in the same theater as us?

I tried to make myself stop thinking, but it was impossible. I had a fear that like the Titanic, I was unknowingly aimed straight at a huge metaphorical iceberg. Was I directly in the crosshairs of a disaster, fated to break and sink? Unlike the gigantic luxury liner, I had a bad feeling that something was going to happen, but I didn't know when and where the crash was going to occur.

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**A/N:**

I'm participating in "Fics for Nashville." Unlike the other times I've written for charity, I know what I'm writing already. "Fics for Nashville" is just like the "Twi-Fans for Haiti" project - donate a **minimum of $5** and get loads of stories written by your favorite authors (and me). I'm going to tease you and give you the current summary! ;)

**Love and Blackmail**  
Brothers Emmett and Edward, rich and bored with life, take bets at illegal races for the thrill. On the run from the cops, they hide their winnings. Out of jail, their money is missing and they start to receive mysterious blackmail letters. Each day they must complete a specific good deed or a hundred dollars will be deducted from their ill gotten gains. Who is blackmailing them and why?

L&B is in Emmett/Rose POV. You should see the partial list of good deeds Emmett and Edward are going to have to complete.

In other news, Chapter 40 is entitled "I Love You."

The "Hava Nagila" stuff with Emmett and Irene? My Grandmother did that to my youngest brother when we went camping.


	40. I Love You

**DISCLAIMER:** I'm not Stephenie Meyer nor am I V..

**A/N:** Thanks to my pre-readers and my beta Bridget.

I am NOT participating in the _Eclipse Fandom Gives Back Edition_. I am however entering the first chapter of a very short story to the _Fics for Nashville_ charity event. At this time my entry is entitled _Love and Blackmail_ but that may change. Just look for my name!

Feel free to follow me on Twitter under my LegacyFF account. I want to do an Outtake from Charlie's POV from this chapter - his feelings as he stood on top of the stairs and overheard Edward tell Bella he loved her.

* * *

_Tuesday, December 30__th__, 2008_

**Chapter 40: I Love You**

The warm spray of the shower pelted my back, easing my achy muscles. I stood under the spray, surely wasting water, half asleep and dazed. Squeezing a small amount of shampoo into one of my palms, I ran the goo through my hair and turned it into a rich lather. As I leaned back into the spray, I heard the shower curtain move ever so slightly.

"Sabrina, are you joining me in the shower again?"

Reaching up, I ran my hands through my hair, helping the water rinse the shampoo out of my soaking wet locks.

"Trust me, I'm no cat."

"Bella?" My eyes flew open at the sound of her voice and I immediately regretted my action. A few suds which the water hadn't reached yet dripped down my forehead and eyes. I was going to go temporarily blind by shampoo, and I hadn't even seen the Promised Land in their entire glory. "Damn it!" Cursing, I felt Bella's hand on mine. Dragging me out of the direct target of the water, Bella passed me a hand towel. I took it gratefully and opened one of my eyes before I had thoroughly cleansed them. My eye stung and burned as the soap entered the tender and sensitive flesh.

"You idiot." Bella giggled at my stupidity.

"You're…here with me," I said. "Too tempting not to try to see you."

Turning, I rinsed my face in the spray of the shower and then wiped the towel over my eyes. When I blinked, my eyes stung still, so I attempted to carefully rinse them out again. They felt better after the second attempt, so I turned to face Bella.

Dear Holy Mother of Instant Hard On, you are a miracle worker like no other. I will forever be your faithful disciple. Amen!

Yes, she was standing there before me. Completely naked, her flesh as bare as mine.

She closed the short distance between us, wrapping her arms around my waist. The feeling of her bare body against mine thrilled me to no end. My arms shot around her, wrapping her in a tight embrace.

"Hi." Suddenly, I had lost all ability form a complete sentence and one word was all I could manage.

"Hi," she replied. "_Kiss me_."

It wasn't a request, it was a demand and I aimed to fully comply. Leaning down, I captured her lips with mine. I squeezed her to me, the contours of her body fitting perfectly into mine.

She broke off our kiss and backed away from me.

"Bella, I…." I had wanted to tell her that I loved and wanted her. I wanted to make sure she felt my love for her.

Her laughter echoed in my ears. Bella's voice twisted into something deeper, sinister. My eyes shot to her naked body. The parts I hadn't specifically seen were unfocused and blurry.

I felt a sharp pain in my rib. I tried to ignore the pain and concentrate on Bella. Rubbing my eyes, I tried to focus on her and what was going on. "Bella? What's wrong, love?"

There was another sharp pain in my rib. And another. In the distance I could hear Bella's voice reaching out to me, calling my name.

My eyes fluttered open. Damn it to holy hell.

It was a dream.

A really, really, really, really, really, great, fantastic, epic dream which ended way too fucking soon if you asked me.

"Pogo has a mind of its own and was trying to ass fuck me in your sleep."

"Can you really blame Pogo?" I asked and received only silence in return. "It has excellent taste in women. Sorry, I was dreaming that you joined me in the shower."

"Maybe someday."

That response delighted me. Moving the hair that was laying against her neck, I kissed her newly exposed skin. "Promise?"

Gasping as my lips touched her flesh, she ignored my question. "Sorry about having to elbow you in the ribs. I thought you were going to dry hump my ass in your sleep."

"Nuh uh." My right arm tightened around her waist, keeping her close to me. "I want to be _wide awake_ for that dry humping."

"If you don't stop moving against me, I fear you're going to get your wish."

My hips were involuntarily moving on their own accord against Bella's beautiful backside. "Sorry, it seems as if my body has a mind of its own this morning. I do agree one hundred percent with all its actions though. It has great taste in women and their body parts."

The next few minutes passed in a blur as Bella turned in my arms and I ended up groping her chest. As I kissed and sucked on Bella's neck, I got to play with Righty and Lefty that morning. We didn't kiss on the mouth because of morning breath, although I would have sprinted to the bathroom and scrubbed my teeth with a toothbrush if she had asked me to.

The end of Bella's shirt had ridden up on her stomach and she tried to pull it down. I'd move my hand and it would ride up again. Honestly, it was in the way and I had wanted to lavish the Promised Land with some love via my mouth, but the damn fabric was in the way.

"Bella, can you please just take your shirt off?"

"Oh, hell no."

"_Bella_."

"You'll _see_ everything."

"I know—that's the point. I _want_ to see everything. I want to see everything _very_ badly." Up until this point my face had been buried in her neck. Raising my head, I met her eyes with my own. "What's wrong? Don't you believe me?"

"You'll laugh."

She was still so nervous about showing herself to me. Not only did her words express her feelings, but the look on her face made it clear also. Panic was etched across her features. Her body felt tense beneath me and her fingers had a death grip on the hem of her shirt.

"Why would I laugh at you?" I asked. "I won't laugh at you, I promise. Cross my heart and shit."

Dropping the subject, I went back to nuzzling her neck.

"Why?" she asked.

"Why what?"

"Why do you want to see me naked so badly?"

"Because you're my girlfriend and I think you're beautiful and it's in every guy's horny DNA to want to see their girlfriends naked." I didn't add the fact that I loved her and wanted to maybe just show her some affection and currently it required her to be partially naked or for me to be wearing a blind fold. Nope. I was a grade A chicken. "I also wanted to show the girls some attention."

I placed my right hand back on one of Bella's breasts and played with the nipple through the fabric of her nightshirt. "Okay, so I wanted to get my mouth on where my fingers are, okay? I thought you liked that. What about tonight? Do you think Charlie would let you sleep over again? Or would we be pushing our luck?"

I heard Bella sigh, but it wasn't in disgust. No, she was enjoying what I was doing with my fingers. I flipped us to our sides and my hand traced Bella's lovely curves to her waist and stopped there. A loud knock on my door caused her to not only turn from me but she also scooted so far away she was practically hanging off the edge of the bed.

"Hey, your mother sent me up to check on you kids," Frank's voice bellowed from the other side of the door. "She wanted to know if you needed any condoms or if you were behaving yourself."

"Liar!" I doubted Esme would mention condoms to Frank.

"Okay, so that's just me. Are you decent?" He asked. "Can I come in?"

For a fleeting moment, I wondered if he had stood outside the door and tried to listen in like I had the other night. If he had, he wouldn't be scarred for life like I had been. Bella stayed lying down, but I sat up. "You can come in."

Frank opened the door, and when he saw my bare chest he covered his eyes with his hands. "I thought you said you were decent. My eyes are burning! Your skin is too white! It's so bright it's almost sparkling. I need a pair of sunglasses. You need to come down to California to tan and get some color!"

As Bella started laughing, I reached behind me and threw my pillow at Frank. "Very funny, old man!"

Frank removed his hands from his eyes and caught the pillow, sending it flying back at me. "No, seriously, do you need condoms?"

I couldn't look at Bella, but I was sure her cheeks were probably flushed red like my own were. "No, we're fine."

"Get a movin' 'cause we're giving your mother a break and takin' everyone out for breakfast."

Glancing down at Bella, I saw her smile in approval. "Aw, isn't that sweet?"

"Sweet is my middle name," Frank said with a laugh. "How long will it take you two to get ready? We won't have to turn this into a brunch or lunch, will we?"

"No, it doesn't take Bella forever to get ready," I told him. "She surprised me."

Frank smiled and winked at Bella. "She's a keeper then. Once had to drag your grandmother out of the shower, throw a towel on her, and take her to a dinner party like that because all I kept on hearing was 'five minutes, dear'. Five minutes my ass."

While Frank had been talking, Irene had walked up behind him. "You liar," she proclaimed. "You tried to remove me from the shower but I kneed you in the groin."

Shocked, Frank spun in Irene's direction. "And that is precisely why I couldn't father anymore children!"

"I had been through menopause already so you weren't fathering anymore children anyway," Irene said. "Unless you planned to father them with someone else. In that case, you would have been permanently castrated."

"If we're going for breakfast we need to get ready," I said. "You two can reminisce out in the hall."

Irene reached for the doorknob. "Reminisce, ha! I'm going to push him down the stairs."

"Help, Edward!" Frank yelled. "Help!"

I jumped up from my bed and went over to the door. "You made your bed, Frank, now you have to lie in it."

"My own kin!" With Frank's last words, I shut the door, locking it just in case, and turned to Bella.

"Do you want to go first?" I asked.

"Sure." Bella threw the covers off and grabbed her bag. Stopping in front of me, she reached up and kissed my cheek. "I won't be long."

While she showered, I checked my email. My aunts and uncle had sent new messages so I replied back to them. I told them how Bella and I had been out on a date yesterday and that I had taken my camera and snapped some pictures.

Bella stepped out from the bathroom, freshly showered and dressed. "Once you're in the shower I can do my hair and makeup," she said. "If that's okay with you."

Damn, I wouldn't be able to rub one out with Bella right there in the same room with me. She'd know what I was doing, and somehow, I think that'd probably weird her out. Today was going to be a long ass day. The temptation to play with myself was still too much. I hurried in the shower and when I was done, Bella left the bathroom so I could get ready. Not that I would've cared either way. She could have stayed and seen my skinny but obviously too white ass in all its glory. I knew I ain't all that.

Since there were so many of us going out for breakfast, we attempted to carpool but it still took three vehicles to get us all to our location. Breakfast was good, maybe not as good as Esme's, but good. I had the damnedest hardest time concentrating on anything because I was so fucking horny the entire time. The overwhelming urge to run to the bathroom and beat my dick against anything clouded my mind at one point. Perhaps not my brightest idea but the thought of beating myself into submission or just beating off was at the forefront of my horny, twisted mind.

We were waiting for the waiter to bring the check when my phone rang. Seeing that I was with most of the people who would bother to call me, I surprised the thing was ringing at all. When I checked the caller ID I was shocked to see Bella's house number displayed.

"Good morning, Charlie."

"Um, yeah, morning Edward." There was an awkward pause and I noticed that Charlie's voice sounded stressed. "Listen, Renee and Phil are here. When you're finished doing whatever it is you're doing, can you bring her home so she can visit with them?"

I swallowed hard before continuing. Bella was dreading her mother's visit and from what I heard about her mother and step father, I didn't blame her one bit. "Sure, we're out at breakfast," I said. "We're almost done and we'll have to stop by my place and grab her bag."

"Can you do me a favor?"

I couldn't believe Charlie was asking me for a favor. Whatever could it be? A few things ran through my mind but I settled on him wanting me to drop Bella off and not showing my face inside his house today. I'd make a terrible impression on her mother. The horny boyfriend who opens his mouth and inserts his foot every time he speaks. "I can try, what is it?"

"Ask if it's okay if you come over for a while," he said. "I think Bella might be more comfortable with you around and it'd be good to have a second set of eyes watching out for her—even if they belong to you."

Typical Charlie. Giving me a compliment _and_ dissing me in the same sentence. It was truly his calling.

Putting Charlie on hold, I quickly told Bella what was going on and got Emmett's attention. He came over to me and I explained what was going on. He was the only other person that knew the entire story with Bella and her mother; Emmett seemed to realize Bella was uncomfortable with the situation she was going to be placed in very shortly. He even asked if he should tag along with us. When I shot Emmett down, he agreed to talk to Carlisle and Esme and make them understand that I wasn't ditching the family for any stupid reason.

I told Charlie that it was okay if I spent time with Bella today. His response? "Thanks, Edward."

The man used my name. Correctly. Not Edbert or Edmund or some other concoction starting with an "E". Not even Marcie. He said Edward. He really must be worried and nervous about today.

Once the initial shock wore off, I thought it'd be best if we left right away. Not that I was in a rush for Bella to see her mother and the creep forever known as Phil, but she was starting to seriously look ill and I thought some fresh air would help.

She didn't say one word in the car. The radio was on low and its upbeat tunes were starting to annoy me. I flipped the fucker off.

"Bella?"

No response.

When we reached my house, I ran inside to get Bella's things from my room. I thought that maybe she needed a minute to compose herself, but I realized she had been attempting that during the entire car ride. I slid back behind the wheel and turned to her. Nothing deflates a hard on faster than a sad and upset girlfriend.

"Bella?" She finally faced me and looked like she was on the verge of tears. "I'm going to be right there with you, okay? Charlie too. We're not going to let anything happen to you."

"I know," she said with an exhale and looked down at herself. "My shirt isn't too low cut, is it?"

Her top wasn't low cut at all. Hell, it might as well have been a turtle neck in my book. "No, I can't even see any what do you call it? Cleavage."

"I hope they didn't plan on staying long," she said. "I know it's a long trip and everything, but I don't know for how many days I can deal with them."

"I wish you didn't have to see them at all."

She sighed and turned toward the window. "Some days, I really wished that as well."

I drove as slow as I could over to Bella's house. I got fuckin' beeped at by an old woman with blue hair. She rolled down her window and yelled, "If you can't handle the road, give up your license!" Those words came from a woman who could barely see over the steering wheel and appeared as if she had been knockin' on heaven's door for entrance for quite some time.

When we arrived at Bella's house, Charlie greeted us as we made the slow walk up the porch steps. We removed our jackets and hung them up. Charlie hugged Bella and instructed her to put her bag upstairs. The two of us awkwardly stood there in the hallway, not saying a word to one another. I heard two muffled voices coming from the living room and knew it had to be Renee and Phil.

When we heard Bella's footsteps at the top of the stairs, Charlie turned to me. "You let me know if you sense anything weird or if she gets upset, got it?"

I nodded and refrained from making any smart ass remarks. "Got it."

Bella stopped at the foot of the stairs and glanced at the both of us. "Let's get this over with."

Charlie led the way into the living room with Bella and me hot on his heels. Bella's hand was in mine, and I gave it a reassuring squeeze.

"Oh, honey, it's so good to see you!" A woman who I could only presume was Bella's mother because she was the only other female in the room shot up from the couch. Hurrying over to Bella, she wrapped her arms around her which forced me to release her hand. Bella had obviously gotten most of her looks from her biological father. Renee's hair was more of a dirty blonde while Bella's was a dark, deep brown with reddish highlights. As I studied Renee, I realized Bella did have her nose. No wonder Renee had tried to pass Bella off as Charlie's daughter—they looked enough alike that no one would question such a thing. Of course, unless you were Charlie and could count back the months and know you didn't impregnate someone.

Renee let Bella go and stood there with her hands on Bella's arms as she spoke words I didn't register. It was the tone of her voice that got to me. It reminded me of someone who was seeing a high school friend for the first time in twenty years, not her daughter. Phil was standing behind Renee and went to hug Bella. She shifted just before his arms went around her so her shoulder was against his chest. Charlie and I locked eyes at the same time and then watched for any suspicious moves from Phil. The hug from the creepy dude was thankfully quick, weird, and half hearted because Bella obviously didn't want to have him near her. She pushed him away and reached for me.

"This is my boyfriend, Edward."

I moved closer to Bella and felt an overwhelming urge and need to mark my territory. Of course, Bella wasn't an object and she wasn't my territory, but I still felt the need to protect her.

I politely extended my hand and Renee took it. "Oh yes, Bella's boyfriend," she said. "Charlie's told us so much about you."

Huh wha? I wondered if she was lying or if Charlie filled her head with a bunch of incorrect information about me. Whatever the case, I mumbled something about how nice it was to meet her in response. So what if I had been lying? Renee sat down on the couch with Bella next to her. In order to keep an eye on Phil, who planted himself in Charlie's recliner, I sat to Bella's left. Charlie positioned himself next to the television set, standing against the big black flat panel. Between the two of us it seemed like it was a contest to see who was tenser.

Renee asked the usual questions one would already know if she had kept normal contact with her child. She wanted to know how school was going. Had she had been doing well health wise. Was there was anything that she needed. Somehow, if Bella had needed anything from her mother, I doubted Renee could deliver. Phil stayed mostly silent, but the gaze he sent Bella's way was entirely too creepy and not fatherly for my liking. I wanted to kick him in the balls and see him writhing on the floor in pain at my feet. Maybe break his jaw too for good measure. Or remove his eyes from their sockets with a melon baller.

The house phone rang and Charlie might as well have growled from his location. "I've got to get that. It could be the station."

His eyes darted to me and without even saying anything I knew that he wanted me to watch over Bella in his absence. I stared back at him, attempting to tell him I understood and had her back. I didn't know if my message was understood. For all I knew, I could have told Charlie, "I love you" with the look I was giving him.

"Bella, what is this?" Renee tugged on the sleeve of Bella's shirt. "Sometimes it seems as if you forget that you're a girl."

There was nothing wrong with Bella's shirt. It was purple and long sleeved with some kind of design on the front. For Christ's sake, I wouldn't mistake her for a lumber jack in it.

"Mom, I live in Washington state," Bella said. "And it's the end of December. I really don't see the need to be showing a lot of skin."

Bella was trying to be logical. Did Renee think it was normal to run around in temperatures thirty-two degree and under in shorts and a tank top? Up until about two seconds ago I thought Bella had been feeling more confident in herself and the way she dressed. All it took was for her mother to utter one sentence and I could see that confidence was shot to hell.

"You should dress a little more feminine." Obviously Renee's brain didn't take to logic. "Catch yourself a nice man."

"Your mother is right." Phil was sitting in Charlie's recliner with a smirk on his face. I wanted to slap that smirk right off and into another state. Or maybe clear across to Europe. The option for eye removal was getting more and more tempting. "You're old enough to start dressing a little sexy."

_What the fuck?_

"Ahem." I cleared my throat. I had wanted to remain calm and polite, but my patience was quickly diminishing with her mother. "Her boyfriend is sitting right here, hello."

"Oh, yes, right, sorry dear." Renee smiled at me, but it wasn't genuine. Nothing about her seemed to be. "What did you say your last name was again?"

I fully remembered that Bella had never mentioned it. "Cullen. Edward Cullen."

"Cullen?" She seemed to perk up at the mention of my last name. "Is he from that family that you're friends with? I don't remember you talking about him before. Just the other one."

"It's a long story, Mom, but Edward is Emmett's brother." I could tell that Bella's patience with her mother was also wearing thin. Besides, I doubted Renee could even comprehend what had happened to me.

Renee went all smiley once she found out what family I was from. I swear, the woman had dollar signs in her eyes like in cartoons. She probably assumed that Bella was taking advantage and using us for our money. It didn't matter what her mother thought because I knew the truth. Bella didn't care about our money and was frequently uncomfortable when we spent any on her.

"Oh, well then, Edward, you should really keep an eye on what Bella is eating." Renee sighed. "She's looking a little round in the stomach."

_What the fuck?_

I knew that slapping a woman was wrong, but in this case, I really hoped I'd be forgiven if my hand accidently flew out and landed against Renee's cheek. The things she was saying and insinuating weren't right at all. Actually, I felt like taking her by the scruff of her neck and throwing her out the front door much like I was sure Charlie felt like doing with me most of the time.

"I like Bella just the way she is," I said. "There's nothing wrong with her." That must have been right around the time when I started seeing red and wouldn't let Renee's dumbass words into my eardrums. It was just too much.

Bella had opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out. I could tell that she was upset but I didn't know how to stop what was going on. I wanted to yell at Renee for being such a god awful mother and punch Phil for leering.

"Bella, why don't we…"

I had planned on asking Bella if she wanted me to help her get drinks from the kitchen, but I wasn't able to complete my sentence. She released the death grip she had been holding on my hand. "Excuse me, I think I heard the dryer buzz." Her voice was shaky and uneven, barely squeaking out from her throat.

I knew her words were a lie. Maybe Renee and Phil did too, but they didn't bat an eyelash at what she said. There was no laundry in the washer or dryer down in the basement.

Bella rose from the couch quickly without saying another word and hurried off toward the basement. Phil's gaze followed her, his beady eyes trailing after her with an appreciative smile plastered across his lips. I had no idea what was going through his head and honestly, I didn't want to know. All I knew was that he should not have been looking at her like he was. Not now, not ever. It didn't take a genius to see that it wasn't right.

There were so many things I had wanted to say to Renee. Instead, I made a vain attempt to keep my mouth shut. I knew anything I said to her would be wasted—in one ear and out the other. She was too blind to even notice how much her words hurt her own daughter.

"Excuse me." I bolted up from the couch and paused as I stepped in front of Renee. "You don't deserve her."

I couldn't help myself. There was so much more I had actually wanted to say, but there was no time to berate a woman who didn't give a damn. It'd fly past her head faster than a racquetball hurled across the gym by Emmett.

And let me tell you something, that was damn fast.

I continued past Renee, following the path Bella had taken down into the basement. Closing the door behind me, I hurried down the stairs and found Bella facing a wall, leaning against the washer for support. "Bella?"

"She didn't follow you, did she?" Bella was crying.

"No, she didn't."

"Good." I walked toward her and not sure if she would want me to touch her right then, stopped a short distance behind her. Bella sniffed and caught her breath. "Why don't you go back home? You don't need to see this."

"Oh, no, love," I said. "I'm not going anywhere right now."

"Why not? Spare yourself from her stupidity."

"I'm not leaving because I love you and I want to help you like you've helped me."

Oh, shit. I said it. I had told Bella I loved her without even thinking about it. My omission wasn't planned. The words just came out.

Wiping at the tears that has spilled down her cheeks, Bella turned around slowly and faced me. "You love me?"

"I love you, Bella." I reached out and took her hands in mine. "Before you say anything else, let me say something. We were at the cabin and you thought I was asleep. I had started to drift off and I thought I was dreaming when I heard you say my name. I heard you and I was a chicken. I was afraid. I heard you tell me that you loved me and I've been too afraid to say anything. I love you, Bella."

Stepping forward, she let go of my hands and wrapped her arms around me. Her face was buried against my chest. "I love you, you chicken."

"If I start to lay eggs I'd be concerned if I were you," I said. "Not only am I a chicken but a female one at that."

Her laughter was muffled. "I guess that would mean I dig chicks."

Even though the joke was more at my expense, I laughed with her. Hearing heavy footsteps coming down the stairs, we both turned and saw Charlie. Bella broke our embrace, and I noticed that Charlie was holding our jackets and Bella's overnight bag in his clutches.

"Do you have your keys, Edward?"

My free hand flew to my pocket and I dug them out. "Yup."

"Good." He handed us our jackets and Bella her bag. "I threw some more clothes and stuff in there for you. I hope I grabbed the right stuff. I don't really know. I'm sorry you had to deal with that."

Charlie started walking toward the back of the basement and we followed. I was surprised to see another set of stairs. Charlie walked up them and at the top of the stairs was a set of double doors set at an angle that I never noticed from the inside or outside of the house. He had to push hard against the contraptions to get them to open, but they did and a sorry excuse for sunlight shined down through them. Charlie continued up the stairs and to the outdoors with us hot on his heels. Bella put her bag down and we both put our jackets on. "Edward, I want you to get her out of here. Take her back to your place for now, okay?"

Bending down, I picked up Bella's bag from the snow-covered ground. "She'll be safe there."

"I know," he said. "I'll be over later to check in on you and visit with Frank and Irene, okay?"

"Okay." Bella hugged him and I saw the regret of having to put Bella through her mother's visit written all over his face.

"Go on and get out of here." He released her from his hold. "I've got some trash to take out."

Something happened that day between Charlie and me. It was unspoken and I actually had no clue what the hell it actually was, but from then on, things were different between us. He no longer gave me a hard time about Bella. Unless I said something really sarcastic, the man left me alone for the most part. He usually used my actual name, unless I was a wise ass or he was in a joking mood, and was friendly with me.

Yup, Charlie Swan had been fully taken over by aliens on that day. There could be no other explanation to his behavior.

We hurried around to the front of the house, partially afraid Renee and Phil would catch us. Opening the passenger door, I threw Bella's bag in the back and caught her staring at the house. I cupped her face with both of my palms and turned her gaze to me. "Please don't let anything she said get to you," I said sternly and with conviction. "Don't listen to a word she said."

I kissed her where we stood in the driveway, not giving a damn over who might have seen us. "You don't need her. You've got me, Charlie, Jazz, Rose, and the rest of my family, right?"

I knew it was easier to say than to believe, but I hoped she would believe me over time. It must have been hard realizing you had to give up on a family member because no matter how hard you tried, they were never, ever going to live up to your expectations.

"Tell me again." Her words came out in a quick burst, her breath in white, puffy clouds from the cold air.

"I love you just the way you are." I placed a kiss on her forehead. "I know Charlie does too and he's going to kill me if I let you freeze to death out here. Get in."

She didn't fight me as she slid into the seat. I drove us back to my house and was thankful that the ride was a short one. I honestly didn't know what else to say to make her feel any better.

Emmett was in the garage putting away Christmas decorations when I pulled in. He came over and appeared guilty as hell.

"What's going on, bro?" I asked. "You look twitchy."

Bella retrieved her bag from the back seat and come over to my side. "More twitchy than usual," she said.

"Listen, Bella, I told Mom and Dad about Renee and Phil coming to visit you," he said with a sigh. "They were concerned and as it turns out, they know what happened all those years ago, too. Charlie talked to them about what to do since you spend so much time over here. He thought it'd be a good idea if someone he trusted you with knew what was going on. He was afraid something would happen and either my parents wouldn't be prepared or something would come out and my Dad would be blamed for it."

Bella sagged against my car, placing her bag at her feet. "This is so embarrassing."

"Don't be worried about them knowing," Emmett said. "You know what? I actually think it was a good idea. They were worried about how the visit went."

"Not great," Bella mumbled. "Not great at all."

Emmett took a few steps closer and stood on Bella's other side. "Mom said she'd be available if you wanted to talk."

"Might be a good idea." I told her. "I know, I know, this is coming from the guy who wouldn't talk at all. It might be a good idea for you to talk to a female and I'm not cutting off my balls to accommodate you."

Emmett started laughing and Bella folded her arms across her chest. "And you wonder why Charlie has issues with you and your mouth?" I simply shrugged in response and she turned to Emmett. "Where's Esme?"

As if on cue, Esme walked into the garage holding another box of decorations. "Am I interrupting the three of you talking about me?"

Bella ran toward Esme and she dropped the box she was holding. I thought I heard the sound of glass shattering inside of the box, but Esme didn't seem to flinch when Bella threw herself into her arms. I picked up Bella's bag and Emmett moved the forgotten box out of the way as Esme ushered Bella into the house. I watched as they went upstairs but not sure of where they were going to end up.

Carlisle and Frank were sitting at the kitchen table playing a card game while Irene was packing up the remaining Christmas decorations.

"Rough visit?" Carlisle asked.

"Uh huh." I put Bella's bag down on the floor and Emmett and I sat down at the table.

"You boys know how to play poker?" Frank asked and we both shook our heads negatively. "It's about time you learn then, isn't it?"

For the next hour, maybe more because I had lost track of time, Emmett and I sat at the kitchen table with our father and grandfather as they attempted to teach us how to play poker. Surprisingly, Emmett was better at it then I was. The entire time I wondered what Bella was saying to Esme and what Esme was doing to comfort Bella. Every ten minutes I had the urge to go upstairs, figure out what room they were in, and put my ear to the door and listen in. Instead, I stayed in my chair, fully aware that Bella needed some time alone with a female who loved her and wouldn't belittle her. Someone who wasn't her nutty, spacey, stupid, biological mother.

"I'm going a little stir crazy here," I said, folding my cards. "I'm going upstairs to my room."

"No spying." Carlisle instructed with a raised brow.

"I'll leave the spying to you and the rest of your brood." I grabbed Bella's bag to take upstairs. As I walked passed Carlisle, my hand landed on his shoulder and squeezed it. He glanced up at me and smiled. I continued upstairs to my room. Once inside, I wondered why the hell I had left everyone downstairs. I was now by myself and things weren't any better. Opening my nightstand drawer, I grabbed my journal and sat at my desk, writing up a storm. I vented about Bella's mother and how she treated her. I wrote about Phil's creepy stares. I confessed how I had told Bella that I loved her. I wrote for what felt like hours.

Hearing a noise outside my door, I closed my journal and waited in anticipation for Bella to come in. She snuck her head inside quickly before disappearing again. "Yeah, he's in here, Esme."

I got up and crossed the room. Opening the door, I found Bella in the hallway hugging Esme. They released each other and Bella turned to face me. "Hey."

"Hey." I replied back.

"I'll leave you two alone for now." Esme started to around to leave.

"Can you wait a minute?" She stopped and Bella looked at me. "I put your bag inside if you need it. Might want to check what Charlie shoved in there for you."

Silently she stepped inside my room and closed the door behind her. "She'll be okay, Edward."

"I know," I said. "I just wanted to thank you for always being there for Bella. I think it's good that she has you since her own mother is so… absent in her life."

"I hope our talk helped," she said. "Just a warning though—she may be all talked out for the night."

"That's okay." I took a step toward Esme. "I know it may be hard to believe, but I'm pretty good at the shut up and be quite deal when I need to be."

"Is something wrong?"

"Before we came home I was thinking about Bella and her mother. I was thinking in Bella's case that it'd be better if Bella gave up on Renee because Renee seems like the type that will never change." I paused for a moment to gather my thoughts. "While that may be better for Bella, I don't want that to happen to us. I may not be living up to your expectations but I don't want you to stop trying. Please don't give up on me yet."

"Oh, Edward, I never truly gave up hope of finding you for seventeen years." Esme took another step closer to me and placed her palm against my cheek. "I'd rather have both of legs cut off than to give up on you."

Stepping forward, I embraced her in a tight hug and was surprised when she let go first. "Go on. Your girlfriend needs you."

When I opened the door to my room, I found Bella bent at the waist over by my TV stand. She was rifling through a stack of DVDs Alice had left behind.

"Whatcha doin'?" I removed my phone from my back pocket, sat down on my bed, and I couldn't help myself. My gaze was glued to her ass. Hell was looking fine behind the pair of jeans she was wearing.

"I thought it'd be good to find a funny movie to help put me in a better mood."

As Bella went through the stack, a thought came to my mind. I grabbed my phone, went to the camera option and snapped a picture of Bella's ass. My phone was a turn coat and informed Bella of my horrible deed when it made a noise just like a shutter would on a camera. Busted by technology. I needed to learn how to turn the noise feature off.

With a DVD case in one hand, Bella stood up straight and looked at me. "What was that?"

I smiled at her. "Um, just me taking a picture of your ass."

"Why?" Of course, one eyebrow was raised as she asked the question.

"Uh, 'cause I liked the view you were giving me and it could have only been better if you had been wearing a skirt and thong?" I smiled widely at her, as if to say, "Please don't kick me in the balls." "Do you want me to delete it?"

"Everyone isn't going to end up seeing that, are they?"

"Oh, hell no! This," I pointed to the picture of her ass displayed on my phone, "is for _my _private viewing pleasure only."

"If I see that anywhere, you can kiss _your _ass goodbye." Bella stressed each word by poking the air with the DVD case. "I'll get Emmett to pound it into the ground."

"Yes ma'am! Thank you!" I saluted her. "What are we watching, love?"

"_Knocked Up_," she replied and turning on the DVD player, inserted the disc into it. She grabbed the remote and walked in my direction. Sitting down on bed in front of me, I pushed my way across so my back was against the wall. She scooted back towards me and sat between my legs.

The two of us sat there watching the movie together, my arms wrapped around her. Bella did let loose and laugh some during it, but I was still worried about how she was feeling. About half way through our feature presentation, there was a knock on my door.

"You better be decent!" Charlie's voice echoed from the other side.

I whispered to Bella, "I'd give him a heart attack if I said 'Wait a minute, we have to get dressed,' wouldn't I?"

"Don't you dare!" She elbowed me in the ribs and told Charlie it was safe to enter. Opening the door, he peeked his head inside and saw us together on my bed.

"You know Charlie, I don't maul her twenty-four seven, three sixty-five," I received another jab to my ribs. "You're gonna break one of 'em today!"

They both ignored me, which really, was usually the best thing anyone could do with me in most situations. "I just wanted to check on you and see how you were doing." Charlie went over to my computer chair, dragged it across the carpeted floor, and perched himself on it in front of us.

I refrained from saying, "I'm doing fine" because I knew he didn't give two shits about me and let Bella speak instead. "I'm doing better," she said. "I had a nice long talk with Esme. All these years and you never told me that Carlisle and Esme knew."

"I thought it was important they knew," he explained. "I didn't want Renee to blame them or me for that matter. You spend a lot of time here. If you had a nightmare and were mixed up and said something about what happened, would they have blamed me and thought I was the sicko? I couldn't take the chance that something like that would happen and you'd be placed back with Renee. They needed to know so we could protect you from that."

"He's got a good point," I said. "Never thought I'd be agreeing with you, Charlie."

"Miracles never cease," he muttered. "I also wanted to let you know that you don't have to worry about Renee and Phil. They're gone."

I could feel Bella relax in my arms. She was probably in a much better place mentally now that she didn't have to deal with her mother. "Thank you."

Charlie nervously scratched at his face. "I also took the liberty and told her not to contact you again. Well, I told her to keep it to letters and not to come around unless you specifically asked. She mentioned trying to get visitation rights, but I reminded her that you're going to be eighteen in less than a year and you are fully capable of making your own decisions."

Bella broke free from my arms and threw herself at Charlie. "Thanks, Dad."

Wrapping his arms around her, he hugged her back. "You're welcome, honey."

Charlie released her but didn't make a move. "There's something else."

"What?"

"I want you to talk to Esme about something."

"Something specific?"

"Um, yes." His eyes flashed to me and then to the ceiling. His next sentence came out sounding like one long word rather than several. "Iwantyoutotalktoher aboutyougoingonbirthcontrol."

Oh, he did not just bring up that subject. I wanted to find a hole to hide in. "Did you… did he… did… woah, waitaminuterighthere." I seemed to be afflicted with the same one long word disease as Charlie had been.

"It doesn't give you a free pass, but I think it'd be a good idea if, uh, God, maybe you, uh, went on the, uh pill."

I was actually speechless, and I was sure it surprised Bella because she turned and looked at me before concentrating on Charlie again. "Are you serious?"

"I don't want you to become a teenage mother. Can you see this one here if you were pregnant?" He pointed at me. "He'd probably be standing there in the delivery room dressed as a catcher with a mitt plastered on his hand."

"Give me more credit, Charlie," I said. "I know babies don't come flying out like that. You gotta be gentle with the little ones."

"Yeah, well, I hope you don't know that from experience for a long, long time."

I was not ready to be a father any time soon. Hell, I didn't even know if I wanted kids. I was just a kid myself! "Wholeheartedly agree with you." Charlie stared at me, his eyes wide with surprise. "Shocking, I know. We've agreed on a few things today and the world didn't stop nor has lightening struck either of us. We may be pushing our luck today."

"No matter what you think," Bella said, "he doesn't maul me twenty-four seven three sixty-five."

"Nah, it's more like twelve three-oh four." Charlie shook his head at me. "She does sleep and go to school!"

Bella turned and gave me a dirty look before facing Charlie again. "Sorry, I don't think there's a class at school to teach him how to shut his big mouth."

Charlie did his best to ignore me and focused on Bella. "Do me a favor and talk to Esme, okay? Don't forget. She's expecting the conversation. I also had something else I wanted to talk to you about. Are you okay with Sue and me?"

"Yeah, Sue is nice and everything," Bella said. "Seth is nice and Leah, well, she needs a personality transplant, but she's okay."

"I was, uh, thinking of asking her to marry me." My mouth fell open in surprise at Charlie's words. "I'd need to get a bigger house though. Three kids in a two bedroom house won't work that well. Would you be okay with that?"

Bella moved forward and embraced her father again. "As long as it's what you want and it makes you happy."

Charlie looked a little nervous. "It'd be a big change for us. I haven't even proposed because I don't even know what kind of ring to get her."

"Take Bella ring shopping with you," I offered. "She'll give you good feedback so you don't get Sue anything gaudy or so you don't over do it."

"I agree with him again," Charlie said. "Tonight may just be the end of the world."

Bella shook her head in disgust. "I'd be happy to help you find a ring for Sue. Actually, she's not flashy like me, so I might be the perfect person to help you!"

If Sue wasn't big on jewelry, then Bella was indeed the perfect choice to help Charlie. Jewelry wise she was currently wearing only a watch and the necklace I had given her for Christmas.

"Maybe you can help me find a new recliner, too."

"What's wrong with your old one?" Bella asked.

"_Phil_ sat in it," Charlie grimaced. "I don't know if I can ever sit in it again. It feels like the poor thing is filthy now."

"You could Febreeze the hell out of the sucker," I offered. "I've had to do that to stuff in the past."

"I don't think there's enough Febreeze in the entire world to get Phil's creepiness out of my chair. I'll miss my chair. It was good to me. After all these years, it finally has my butt indentation just where I want it." Charlie sighed and shook his head. He had gone into the "too much information" area in regards to his recliner and the ass indentation. "Too bad I can't boil it in a huge vat of water to decontaminate it. Oh, hey, dinner will be ready in about twenty minutes now." He got up from my computer chair and returned it to its previous location. "What movie are you watching?"

I tried not to laugh as I informed him of the title. "_Knocked Up_."

"How appropriate considering our conversation," he said with a shake of his head. "See you two downstairs."

Even though Bella had relaxed some, I was still edgy. I was annoyed she had the misfortune of having a mother such as Renee. Even though Esme and I were struggling to forge a relationship we would both be happy with, I knew deep in my heart that Esme was a good person. Renee? Not so much. Esme would never tell Alice any of the things Renee said to Bella. Even if Esme thought Alice should dress a different way, she'd never bring the subject up in the way Renee had or used the same tone of voice with her.

It dawned on me that I had lucked out in the parental unit department—twice. Peter and Liz had been great to me even though we didn't have jack shit. Carlisle had proven to be understanding, patient, and there for me when I needed him. And Esme?

I realized there were so many words to describe her and her actions toward me, but there was one that summed her up the best—mother. She was my mother and she even acted as one toward Bella, Rose, and Jasper because they needed her. Esme didn't complain or seem inconvenienced by their needs as well as mine and my siblings.

Even though he may have not liked me and his communication skills were a bit lacking, Bella had lucked out with Charlie. He wasn't a true biological family member, but he looked after her and took on the responsibility as if he was.

Dinner was a big affair. We talked a lot and some of my food even went cold before I managed to finish it. Irene had made a delicious chocolate cake for dessert that would have satisfied even the biggest chocolate lover's sweet tooth.

Charlie left and Bella chose that time to talk to Esme. Turned out, all the girls went upstairs to Alice's room to talk. That left just us guys and we ended up in the basement gym. I found myself in my usual place, in front of the red punching bag, with gloves firmly in place and Emmett holding onto the sucker for dear life as I attempted to beat out some frustration.

Temporarily out of breath, I paused while leaning against my opponent and whispered to Emmett, "Have you told Rose you love her?"

"Uh," His eyes darted around the room nervously. "Not yet. I think I love her though."

"You think?"

"I can't imagine being with anyone else, I think about her all the time, she makes me laugh, and I could stare at her all damn day long." He didn't seem to realize that his voice had gotten louder the more he talked. "The thought of her not laying next to me at night makes me want to tear my own heart out. If that's love, then yeah, I love Rose."

There was a clanging in the corner and when I looked to see what it was, I saw Jasper and a dropped barbell and a surprised Carlisle who had been spotting for him. "Dude, you need to tell her."

Emmett let go of the bag which nearly sent me flying across the room. I caught myself in time to catch his next words. "I know, but I just don't know how."

"I blurted it out without thinking today," I said. "It wasn't romantic or nothin'."

Emmett appeared surprised at my confession. "You told Bella you love her?"

"Yeah, no planning or nothing, just full-on verbal diarrhea but she didn't seem to care since I was honest."

"I think women prefer for our confession to be in a romantic setting, but as long as we tell them how we feel, in the end, I don't think they care," Carlisle said. "I can attest to that from experience, thanks to Frank and his hernia operation."

"Screw that!" Frank's eyes appeared far away as if he was thinking back. "Go for the romantic route. I'll never forget when I told Irene I loved her. I was going off to fight in the war and wasn't sure I'd ever see her again. You know, facing death can make you a man."

Carlisle turned to Frank. "You are so full of shit." Frank's jaw opened up, but surprisingly no words escaped. "You didn't fight in any war."

"I was in Korea!"

"He was in Korea in 1961, the conflict ended in '53." Carlisle informed us. "You, thankfully might I add, didn't see any action."

Frank stuck his tongue out at Carlisle. He had been spending way too much time with us kids. "Just this one time, don't listen to your father. A big change can make you face things, like love and death, which you never thought about before."

"Want a word of advice, Emmett?" Jasper asked, and Emmett nodded in confirmation. "Don't do it in a public place. Rose isn't into big displays like that."

Our conversation about love and the girls in our lives continued. Since I knew how Carlisle told Esme he loved her, he filled in the others about his disastrous confession. Jasper was reluctant to speak about Alice since Carlisle was in the room.

"Aw, come on now, 'fess up, Jazz!" Carlisle prodded and then a look of worry washed over his features. "Oh, please don't tell me it happened when you had sex for the first time? I already know you two are doing it, I don't need to know the gory details."

"I agree on that, Mr. C." Jasper shook his head, and I noticed his cheeks were flushed red. "No, it wasn't like that. It actually happened at school at a dance. Brian Whittman had asked Alice to dance with him and I thought she was serious about accepting his offer. I told her I didn't want her to be dancing with no other guys except for relatives because I loved her."

"How'd she respond?" Emmett asked.

"She danced with Brian and when they were done she laid into me about how I wasn't going to tell her what to do, how to do it, blah, blah, and then she told me she loved me too." Jasper smiled at the memory.

"That's my daughter!" Carlisle said proudly. "So much like her mother."

After our conversation started to dwindle, we headed upstairs. The girls had now moved downstairs and were on the couch talking. We joined them but like the animals entering Noah's ark, we slowly headed upstairs to our rooms two by two.

I most definitely surprised Esme when I hugged her goodnight. I was sure she wasn't used to that much contact from me in one day. "Thanks for everything today." I told her. "I appreciate it."

"No problem, honey," she replied with a grimace. "You stink. Do yourself a favor and shower for Bella before hitting the sheets."

I laughed at her honesty. "Now I'm not sure if you get that from Frank or from being around Carlisle for so long now."

Esme laughed. "I know it's truly a toss up, isn't it?"

Bella and I made our way hand in hand upstairs to my room. "Before you ask," she started as we entered through the door. "I think I'm all talked out for tonight."

"That's okay." I sniffed my underarm. "Esme's right. I need a shower ASAP."

"You don't know how glad I am to hear that from you." Bella flopped down on my bed. "I was inwardly cringing at the thought of lying next to you like you are right now. You stink."

"Nice." I went over to my dresser and pulled out a fresh pair of boxers. "Two women in my life have told me within the last five minutes that I stink."

"You do." Bella clicked on the television. "To high heaven."

I laughed and flashed her one of my middle fingers. She started giggling and flashed me both of hers. "Love you." I spoke the words and saw the look on Bella's face. She smiled at me but before she could reply, I entered the bathroom. I turned on the water and stripped my stinky clothes off, throwing them into the corner. As I stood under the spray for the second time that day, I relaxed as water massaged my back. Since Bella liked to run her fingers through my hair, I washed it again for good measure. I soaped up, rinsed off, but stood there in the shower, the water beating down on my face and shoulders where I was sore from our impromptu work out in the basement.

I felt a movement behind me and though I hadn't seen her in the bathroom, I assumed it was Sabrina. Leaning forward, I stretched and placed my hands on the tile in front of me. A moment later I felt a pair of arms encircle me at my waist. I must have fallen asleep in the shower and I was dreaming again. Yup, that was it. That _had_ to be it.

I felt something soft up against my back. Shocked, my hands flew to the other pair of hands that were at my waist. "Bella?"

"Mmm," she murmured. "You're not dreaming."

She was standing behind me, her arms like a vice grip around me with her face pressed sideways against my back. Her arms relaxed their grip, and I turned around to face her. She took a step back and with the exception of the necklace I had given her for Christmas, she was completely naked and in the shower with me.

"Wow." As my eyes scanned her body, my brain functions had ceased to work. Bella's arms moved upward in an attempt to cover her breasts. "No, don't."

I stepped forward and enclosed her in my arms. Stepping back into the spray of water, I brought her with me and changed positions so that the water would soak and warm her. "You're so brave." Leaning down, I kissed her lips slowly, my hands roaming the expanse of her bare back. "You are so beautiful to me."

She cupped my cheek in her palm. "I love you, too."

We stood in the shower, our arms around each other, kissing. I knew it had taken a lot of nerve on Bella's part to completely expose herself. This morning she held a death grip on her shirt when I wanted to remove it. She had dealt with her mother's hurtful words in regards to her body and clothing choices. But for Bella to step naked into the shower with me when she was so insecure about her own body? Not only did she love me, but it was a defining moment where I knew she trusted me completely. Even though she was standing naked in my arms, she was still nervous. She _was_ brave though. I loved her even more because of her bravery and because she had come to me completely bare and vulnerable. Perhaps one day I'd be able to explain to her how much her actions meant to me.

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**A/N:** I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and please, if you did, show me some love by letting me know!


	41. Sexy Cardboard Cutouts and the Seahawks

**Disclaimer:** I'm not Meyer or Andrews... don't own _Twilight_ or _Dawn_.

**A/N:** Sorry? Yeah. That's it. My brain wasn't cooperating. I thought it was over that. I wrote my entry for the _Fics for Nashville_ deal (_Love and Blackmail_), wrote some on my unpublished Emmett fic (_Chop and Change_), and then... near the end of this chapter my brain started not to give a fuck if I ever wrote again. *bangs head on wall*

So did everyone get to see _Eclipse_? By far the best in the series IMO, followed by _New Moon_ and then _Twilight_. I went opening night and did the _Twilight Experience_ with a friend-had lots of fun picking out all the mistakes in _Twilight_ that Catherine Hardwicke didn't catch or was too freaking... never mind (oh, the hell with it. High. When she wasn't too freaking high!). Anyway, I've seen _Eclipse_ an additional two times for a total of three. Love the fight scenes! Riley was uber hot as a vamp. More shirtless Jacob? Least Taylor is legal now. *sigh*

Remember I'm on Twitter! I don't mind talking to my readers or fellow Twilight fans on that account (**LegacyFF**). We can oogle the actors, talk trash, talk about books or whatever.

Did you catch the Bella Outtake from Chapter 40? Check my profile for Legacy: Extras & Outtakes if you missed it! Did you catch my little one shot entitled _Don't Take the Girl_? No? Go check my profile!

Thanks go out to my pre-readers and to my beta Bridget for not only editing this lame ass sucker, but for also finishing it with the last line and a half.

**Warning**: It'd be best not to drink or eat during parts of this. I'm not liable for computer damage.

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_Dates covered: Tuesday, December 30__th__ thru Sunday, January 4th, 2009_

**Chapter 41: Sexy Cardboard Cutouts and the Seahawks**

Bella had completely bared herself to me, but when we stopped kissing her arms flew up in a vain attempt to cover any part of her body I might catch in my vision.

"It's too late," I whispered in her ear. "I've seen it all and I _love_ it all."

"It's going to take a while for me to get used to you seeing me naked." Her voice was muffled against my chest. "It kind of freaks me out that you've seen me, to be honest."

"There's no reason for you to be freaked out, although, you might have to tell me to stop staring." I shifted back, and Bella looked up into my eyes. "I don't mean to make you uncomfortable, I just enjoy the view. I'm not leering, I'm being appreciative."

She sighed. "I know. Trust me, I know that. One part of my brain wants to associate your staring with something else."

"We must overpower that part of your brain." I cupped her head in my hands and started sprinkling kisses across her face and forehead. "I'm just a horny teenage boy appreciating my girlfriend's very, very naked body."

"Edward!" She giggled at my words and swatted me away. "I think I'm going to turn into a prune if we stay in here much longer."

Letting go of her, I turned and shut off the water. Bella had pushed back the curtain and was halfway out of the shower. I didn't complain that she had proceeded without me because I managed to get a really fantastic view of Hell as she exited. Yup, Hell was as awesome as I thought it'd be. As I stepped out, Bella had grabbed a towel and had it over her hair, rubbing it dry. Trying not to stare, I took the other towel and started to dry off with it, starting with the head at the top of my shoulders.

Yes, I felt a need for clarification there.

"Will you eventually tell me what you and Esme talked about?"

"Maybe tomorrow."

Since she was mentally exhausted from her hectic day, I didn't push the issue. I hoped she'd open up to me on her own because I knew she trusted me. Fully dry, I wrapped my towel around my waist and grabbed my toothbrush. Bella finished drying off and wrapped her towel around herself and pronounced that she'd be right back. Not a minute later she stood back at my side, her towel still in place but wrapped a bit oddly around her, toothbrush in hand.

Standing side by side at the sink in our towels, brushing our teeth, I wondered if Carlisle and Esme had ever done the same thing. What about Frank and Irene? Emmett and Rose? Jasper and Alice? It seemed like something a couple would do with each other. Showering and brushing their teeth together and then getting into bed with one another. I knew Bella and I were a couple, but tonight our actions seemed to be screaming it.

Know what? I didn't fuckin' care. In fact, I kind of liked it.

Trying to be a gentleman, I let Bella spit out her toothpaste first. I knew it wasn't a romantic move or anything on my part. Once I was done, I put my toothbrush back into the cup holder. Under normal circumstances, Bella would take her toothbrush and put it back in her bag, but not tonight. I smiled when she placed hers in the cup next to mine. She was starting to sleep over so much, I wondered if I should pick up an extra toothbrush for her to keep here instead of lugging hers back and forth all the time.

Lugging? I was thinking about picking up my girlfriend an extra toothbrush to keep in my bathroom. A damn toothbrush. The suckers don't weigh a ton. What the hell was I thinking?

Actually, I was thinking of what color toothbrush to get her.

Bella glanced at herself in the mirror and ran a few fingers over an area on her cheek. "Ugh, I'm starting to break out. I'll be right back."

She hurried off, holding her towel tightly around her. Oh, how I wished it would fall off instead. I dropped my towel and changed into my forgotten boxers. Gathering up my clothes, I dodged Bella as she walked back into the bathroom with a small bottle in her hands. I dropped my clothes into my hamper and then headed back into the bathroom because, in all honesty, I was a nosey fucker.

"What's that stuff?" I asked as Bella smeared it across her face.

"It helps get rid of zits." What zits? I didn't argue with her as she slathered on the goop and it disappeared in her skin. Finished with her task, she flipped the cap shut on the bottle and placed it on the counter. Her hand reached out and touched my cheek. "You're getting stubble."

"Is that your subtle way of telling me I need to shave?"

She smiled at me. "You betcha. Do you think I want razor burn from you? Get a shavin', buddy."

Still wrapped in a towel, Bella hopped up on the counter and watched as I shaved. "Do you find the act that fascinating?" I asked.

"I wanted to see what silly faces you made while you shaved."

I appeased her curiosity and made more faces than usual as I removed the itchy stubble from my face and neck. Rinsing off the shaving cream, I buried my face in Bella's neck before drying off. She squealed as my lips attacked her skin and water dripped down onto her. Her towel slipped, and Righty shot me a hello. I was surprised when I was the one who covered Righty back up. Of course, I took a nice long stare at her before I did so.

"Um, how do I word this?" Bella wondered aloud, grasping her towel to her chest. "In a few days we won't be able to fool around for a bit."

"What? Why?" I asked. "Is something wrong?"

"Uh, no, not wrong, but um, I feel weird bringing this up to you, but I'm going to be getting my period."

Speaking of blood, it felt like it had rushed away from my face. Not only did I feel embarrassed, but I felt embarrassed for Bella for bringing up the subject to me. "Gotcha, no further explanation needed."

"Good." She exhaled heavily. "I'm glad you don't want to earn your red wings."

"My what?" I was confused over her words.

"If you don't know, then I'm not telling you." I wondered if it had something to do with her period, but currently I didn't have the balls to ask. "Maybe that's why today was so hard? Maybe I was emotional over today because my hormones are running wild?"

I shook my head. "I was there. I heard what your mother said to you, and her words weren't nice. It wasn't just your hormones."

Bella leaned forward and placed her forehead against my chest. "That's what Esme said too, but she wasn't there and I wasn't sure if I was just overreacting to what Renee said or not."

I lifted her head up and forced her to look at me. "Don't second guess yourself because of her. There was no need for what she said to you. Come on, let's go and lay down."

Bella hugged me before grabbing my hand and leading me into my bedroom. I wanted to question why she still had a towel wrapped around her, but I didn't bother. I was enjoying the image of Bella in a towel. She looked awfully cute and sexy in it.

It also didn't help that I imagined her ripping it off and dancing around naked in my room. Nope, not at all.

I lay down and scooted backward so Bella could fit in front of me. Before she sat down on the edge of the bed she removed her towel and threw it toward the hamper. I now knew why her towel had looked so odd after she had gone to get her zit goop—she had put on a pair of boy shorts, but she must have done so in a hurry.

My girlfriend was sitting on the edge of my bed in just a pair of underwear.

Oooooooh. Cue hard on!

She was all sly about lying down though, and I didn't see anything more than her back. Damn it! I couldn't blame her though—she was still insecure, and I was her horny boyfriend who lovingly drooled over her nakedidity.

I reached back and grabbed the remote off my night stand. Flipping through the channels, I settled on TV Land, which was showing a _Roseanne_ marathon. Putting the remote back, I flipped off the light and settled into position. Bella moved back toward me and I wrapped my arms around her, one hand resting quite contently between Lefty and Righty like a Promised Land pillow.

Thinking back, to this day I'm not sure how I restrained my hands from reaching out and playing with Lefty and Righty. My appendages wanted to play with hers, but they stayed still.

Now, I knew women's hormones could be a major pain in the ass. Those fucking little buggers made women yell at men when we hadn't done anything wrong. They cried over nothing. They had mood swings so dangerously odd they made men want to shoot themselves between the eyes to end their misery. Hormones were some fucked up little buggers.

But that night? Yeah, I was really thankful for them. After ten minutes, Bella turned around and faced me. She started kissing me, attacking my lips and mouth with great vigor. I knew better than to question her motives because she might stop and I'd go the rest of the night without any satisfaction. I had no yearnings to take a cold shower to calm myself down.

Bella's bravery continued. She didn't make me turn off the television, so when she came I saw her face illuminated in the dim light. God, it was fucking glorious.

Another reason to love her hormones? Bella confessed that she was really horny and we ended up fooling around _a lot_. I got to _see_ Lefty and Right as my mouth covered them with kisses while my fingers moved in and out of Heaven, making her hips buck and her breathing heavy. When Bella was sated and was up to playing with me, she hovered over me in such a manner that I got to see and touch Lefty and Righty while her hand worked over Pogo. I knew there had to be more erotic things than that out there, but right then, that did it.

Bella still wasn't wearing a shirt when we headed to the bathroom to wash up and I flicked on the lights in there. She didn't immediately try to cover herself, but she noticed that I was staring as she washed her hands. "What?" she asked. "Is one bigger than the other or something?"

Was one bigger than the other? I'd be damned if I knew. I wasn't clinically looking at them like a doctor—I was staring at them like a typical guy my age who appreciated a nice set of tits. If Lefty and Righty were different sizes it was such a minuscule measurement, not like one was the size of a tennis ball and the other was smaller like a golf ball. "I don't know, _is_ one bigger than the other?"

I was probably very lucky that she didn't attempt to punch me. She rolled her eyes and went back into my bedroom while I finished in the bathroom. Climbing back into bed, I snuggled closer to Bella and she settled in next to me.

"Good night, my horny boyfriend," she said.

"Good night, my beautiful girlfriend," I replied.

When her breathing changed and I knew she had fallen asleep, I allowed myself to drift off as well.

The next morning, I woke up before Bella. She was lying on her stomach, the sheets pulled down to her waist with her bare back exposed to me. My morning could have only started out better if I had woken to Bella lying on her back. However, the thought of being able to stare at the Promised Land in daylight while Bella was asleep made me feel like more of a pervert than I really was.

And come on, I was a fucking huge ass pervert when Bella was awake and consenting!

I silently wished I could wake up with Bella every morning. I rested my head gently against her shoulder, and my fingers drew random invisible patterns along her back. After a few minutes, Bella's head moved and she made a noise. We didn't fool around that morning (surprise, surprise!), but I experimented in giving her a back massage which she seemed to enjoy.

We showered, changed, and went downstairs for breakfast. During our meal, I remembered that because of yesterday's activities I hadn't talked to Carlisle about the mysterious car at Bella's house. Not wanting to alarm anyone, I didn't say anything about it at the time, but made a mental note to talk to Carlisle privately.

When Alice pulled Bella up to her room for some kind of project, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to chat with Carlisle. Problem was, I didn't want to attract attention to myself or the issue at hand. I didn't want to freak Esme out over what could be a big bunch of nothing. Carlisle was sitting in the living room with Esme, Frank, and Irene when an idea came to me. I went up to my room and, knowing that he had his cell nearby, texted him.

_Need to talk to you about something in private. I'm up in my room._

Three minutes later there was a knock on my door, and Carlisle stuck his head inside. "You okay?" he asked.

"I don't know," I said from the edge of my bed. "Come on in."

He came over and sat down next to me. "What's wrong, son?"

"Remember the night Bella and I went out on our date?" He nodded affirmatively. "When I took Bella back to her house to get her overnight bag, I stayed in the car. I didn't notice it at first, but when I was sitting there, someone had been watching me in a car. When I saw the headlights focused directly on me, I moved my rearview mirror and that must have alerted them and they left."

"Did you notice anything earlier in the night?"

I shook my head negatively. "No, then again, I wasn't looking for anything, you know?"

"Maybe it was someone turning around in the middle of the street?" He was trying to sound convincing.

"I thought of that, but it wasn't the first time I've noticed someone." I sighed, and Carlisle appeared panicked. "Once, I dropped Bella off and on the way back someone was trailing really close behind me. It wasn't long after everything happened, so I didn't think much of it. It was raining so I slowed down, pulled over, and let them pass. I thought it was a reporter or someone being snoopy. One other time when I was at Bella's I felt like someone was watching me too."

"Have you ever seen who's following you?"

"No, they never get close enough or it's dark." I also never thought it was a big deal until the other night. "I've felt like I've been followed or watched in the past though. You'd think the reporters would've given up by now, right? I thought you should know because I don't know what's going on."

"I'm very glad you told me." He dug his cell phone out of his pocket and dialed a number. "Hello, Jerry, it's Carlisle Cullen. I need your help."

Not knowing what else to do, I sat still as Carlisle talked to whoever Jerry was. I didn't understand what he was speaking to him about until I heard the words "I need someone to watch after them." One part of me wondered if I should hope that my mind was over reacting and that nothing was wrong. Another part thought that in this case, it might be better to be overprotective. I assumed that Carlisle's mind immediately went back to my kidnapping all those years ago. He hadn't been able to do anything to stop it back then, but I guessed he'd be damned if something was going to happen to me or my siblings when he could take action to stop it.

Removing the phone from his ear, Carlisle mumbled. "I never thought I would have to do that again."

"You're putting guards on us, aren't you?"

"Yes," he sighed and turned back in my direction. "You shouldn't even know they're there, but they'll be watching out for you where ever you go."

The thought that I was going to have an audience watching every single thing I did kind of freaked me out a bit. "Well then, no making out in public with Bella."

"Not unless you're a voyeur."

"Nah," I said. "What if someone approaches me and I'm by myself? Would it be them? What if it's the person that's following me?"

"Unless you're in trouble, they won't confront you," Carlisle explained. "If someone comes up to you and tells you he's your guard or he's one of 'Jerry's boys' then he's not. Jerry's guards are very professional."

"Okay." I let out a breath I had been holding in. "This feels so surreal. You've got friends in high secret-like places, huh?"

"You could say that." He paused, wanting to say more, but probably not sure how to spit it out. "I'm putting guards on everyone just in case, but they're not going to know, okay? I don't want them to be afraid."

"Everyone?"

He nodded. "Even Bella and Charlie."

"Thanks Dad, I appreciate it."

"You're welcome," he smiled at me. "They may not be related by blood, but we've known Charlie and Bella since we moved here. They're a part of the family too. I wished you told me sooner about what was going on."

"I'm sorry," I apologized. "At first I didn't think anything of it. You remember all the reporters that were trying to see what was going on with us? I thought it was just them trying to be sneakier or something. The other night I had a bad feeling and decided that I needed to tell you what was going on."

"I'm glad you did," he said, patting my back. "Make sure to keep me informed of anything else, okay?"

Though it unnerved me that I really would be watched now, at least I knew I was being watched by someone on "our side" as I'd like to call it. I had no idea who had been following me, but if you can't confront me and you're making me paranoid, you weren't on my side and most definitely not a friend of mine.

Friends don't make friends want to lock themselves in their own car. Friends don't make friends paranoid they're being followed. Friends don't make friends… aw, hell, what the hell did I know about friends? Before I had moved to Forks, I hadn't had any friends in almost ten years.

New Year's Eve was a surprisingly low key affair. Well, sort of. Maybe I should've said it was a casual affair. Starting in the early evening, people were in and out of the house constantly. Tony and his family came over and were staying overnight and camping out in the back room since Frank and Irene were in the guest room. The closer it neared to midnight, the more people stayed until it was standing room only.

"Do you have any New Year's resolutions?" Bella asked.

"I've never made any." I confessed as I caught Charlie staring at us over her shoulder. Kissing her forehead, I smiled and glanced down at her. "Maybe to continue to try with Esme?"

She smiled and behind her, so did Charlie, albeit oddly like his face hadn't formed the expression in years, before his stare moved off the two of us. "I think that's a mighty fine resolution, mister."

When Dick and Ryan counted down the seconds, I had someone to kiss for the first time ever when the clock struck midnight. There was cheering, horn blowing, kissing, hugs, greetings for a happy new year, and some more kissing. It was a new experience for me. New Year's had always been a very quiet and uneventful night. Some of our guests lingered, but since I didn't know who the hell they were, I didn't feel bad when Bella and I escaped up to my room around two o'clock.

Bella begrudgingly talked to me about some of her conversation with Esme while we were lying in bed. I was on my back and she was curled up into my side with her hand resting on my chest. Embarrassed, she wouldn't face me while she talked so I just listened. If Esme hadn't gone into interior design, she totally should have been a social worker or psychiatrist for kids or something like that. I wasn't totally sure that Bella told me everything and that was okay. I was glad that Esme's words helped Bella feel better about herself.

"I talked to the girls about birth control," she said. "Did you know Alice is on the pill?"

For some reason that freaked me out a little. I wondered how long Alice and Jasper had been having sex because of how young she was when they started dating, but I really didn't want to know because of the ick factor involved in knowing that information since I was her brother. "Not until about ten seconds ago."

Bella shook like she was trying to hold back laughter and she squeezed my hand. "Sorry, I hope it wasn't too traumatizing for you."

"I'll live," I said. "What's your decision?"

She shifted slightly and looked up at me. "I don't want to get pregnant anytime soon, so I want to go on the pill for the extra protection, but don't think that's going to get your ass out of using condoms."

"Bella? Seriously?" I reached down and placed a quick kiss on her cheek , realizing what my response must have sounded like. It wasn't what I intended. I knew condoms were a good choice, but the suckers did break. "I'd wear a sock if you wanted me to."

She looked up at me seriously, her expression now showing her sleep-deprived state. "You are not shoving yourself wrapped in a sock into Heaven." Bella started giggling, which made me explode into a fit of laughter with her. "Just a condom, Marcie, no sock is needed. Ouch, geez. What the hell are you thinking?"

"Bella, love, the subject is you, me, and sex," I stated simply. "The blood rushes from one head to another, and thinking is pretty damn near non-existent."

She yawned and attempted to tell me something else. "I think I needed for you to see me naked so I could start to feel more comfortable with myself." The last few words were mumbled and I had a hard time making them out.

"Makes sense to me." I brushed away a strand of hair that had fallen into her eyes. "You're tired—go to sleep."

She must have been tired since I didn't hear another word from her. I now had three nights in a row with Bella sleeping in my arms. I was becoming downright spoiled in that regard.

We all slept in on Thursday and helped clean the house from the previous night's festivities. The place was a mess and the chore took most of the day even with all of us helping. I had suspected that Jasper had gotten into some alcohol sometime throughout during the celebration. He kind of… well, he looked like hell to be completely honest. Not unless he was really tired. Perhaps it was a combination? Whatever was going with him, he didn't appreciate it when Carlisle and Frank spoke to him very loudly, practically screaming right in his ear. I remembered how Emmett told me was punished by having to mow the lawn when he had gotten drunk. The way I figured it, Carlisle was just doing his fatherly duty with Jasper and he should be glad that there was snow covering the lawn.

Charlie swung by to pick Bella up and…blah. I didn't like that one bit. I had gotten too used to having her around me almost twenty-four seven for the last three days. How the hell was I going to get to sleep tonight or the next few without fooling around with her first? Beating off wasn't the same!

On Friday morning we loaded Carlisle's car and left our girls around eleven to head to Seattle. Frank was none too happy about being left alone with Esme, Irene, Alice, Rose, and even Bella (who Charlie had dropped off before heading into the station).

"Damn boy, I know we hadn't met, but ya could've gotten me a ticket to the game too!" he said seriously. "How am I supposed to deal with all the female hormones until the testosterone gets back in the house?"

Carlisle laughed at Frank's verbal rampage. "You don't like football and you don't like sitting outside in cold weather. Until we get back, run like hell if they come at you with some weird green stuff and a maniacal look in their eyes."

"Green stuff?" Frank asked. "What do they want me to do with it?"

"They want to give you a facial." Carlisle winked.

Frank's eyes bulged. "Oh, hell no they ain't! Facials are for sissies!"

On the way to Seattle, Carlisle wanted to stop at Blue Flame BBQ, complaining that he hadn't been there in "forever" as he put it. His constant mention of food reminded me of Emmett and his appetite.

I absolutely loved the food at Blue Flame and understood Carlisle's fondness of the establishment. The building itself was painted literally like a blue flame on the outside, complete with matching neon blue flame lights in the windows. I had the ribs, as did the rest of the guys, and asked the waitress to snap a picture of the four of us with our barbeque sauce laden hands and mouths before we washed up.

Carlisle decided that he wanted to stop and get a haircut at one of the malls. We approached an upscale shopping plaza called Pacific Place which I assumed we were going to but passed by.

"I'm not a big fan of Pacific Place," Emmett explained. "Except for the movie theater, Starbucks, and AT&T, it's more high class and swanky, you know?"

We continued on past a huge Nordstrom's and I saw a tall building that reminded me of a short skyscraper in New York City because the exterior appeared to be all windows. "We're going there," Jasper said. "It looks swanky, but it's not _as_ swanky as Pacific Place."

Where we ended up was the Westlake Center. Jasper mentioned that he really needed a haircut too. Since Esme had taken me to get my haircut during Christmas break, I wasn't in need of a visit to a pair of scissors and neither was Emmett. Classic Cuts was a little busy, so Emmett and I decided to walk around some while Carlisle and Jasper waited.

"Hey, there's a Spencer's, let's check it out."

"Are we even allowed in that store?" I knew that Spencer's contained a lot of adult oriented material though I had never been inside of one. In the past, I never used to frequent malls all that much and, when I did, I was always with Peter or Liz. Not exactly the type of store you'd want to go into when you were with the people who were pretending to be your parents. "We don't have to be over twenty-one or anything?"

"I don't believe so," Emmett said, stepping inside. I expected loud alarms to go off that screamed 'Minors! Minors!', but I only heard the thumping beat of some low techno music. "I'm eighteen, so that should be good enough. Come on, Chicken Little."

Stepping inside, I breathed a sigh of relief when no alarm went off to announce my under aged presence. I followed Emmett over to a rack of t-shirts.

"Heh, I like this one," he held it up against his massive chest. "What do you think?"

It was blue with a yellow smiley face and yellow writing across it. "Boobies make me smile."

Emmett chuckled. "They do, don't they?"

The image of Bella's boobies made me smile alright. "Hell, yeah, but I don't think our parents would approve of you wearing that," I told him. "Or Brandmire at school."

His frown turned upside down as he put the shirt back on the rack. "Fine, I'll just keep the saying as my personal motto or whatever. I think that's the first time that I've heard you refer to both of them as 'our parents', ya know."

"As I keep saying, I'm trying."

"I know you are and I'm sure they appreciate your effort." He reached out and ruffled my hair like I was a little kid, and I slapped his hand away. "Come on moron, let's see what else they have."

"Oh, this one is for Jasper!" I held up a green t-shirt with distressed printed type. "Soldiers like Hummers."

Emmett laughed as we browsed through the other selections. "Fuck me, I'm White Trash."

"My Balls Itch."

"They kind of do, ya know."

I shook my head. "Don't need to know that."

"Oh, I like this one too, 'Overworked and Underfucked'."

"You don't work."

"School, dude!"

"You always have an excuse." I shifted a bunch of shirts to find ones with sayings we hadn't seen yet. "I Eat Pussy Like a Fat Kid Eats Cake."

"You wish," Emmett chuckled. "How far have you gotten with Bella?"

"Don't know if she'd like me to fill you in on something like that." I had wanted to talk to someone about Bella, but I didn't think Emmett would be the best choice. They were friends, and I thought it'd be kind of awkward. For the time being, I'd have to keep everything to myself. I tried to change the topic without him being any the wiser. "All This and a Big Dick too!"

"Hey, you got my shirt!"

"You wish!"

Emmett started laughing so loud that I was tempted to claim I didn't know him. "They have this shirt totally wrong! 'Fifteen Ways to Piss Off a Cop'. Man, they just need to list your name and picture fifteen times!"

"I should get that for Charlie," I said. "I don't know why he doesn't like me."

Emmett passed the shirt to me and I slung it over my arm. "I don't think it's that he doesn't like you, I think he doesn't trust any teenage boy with someone he considers his daughter."

"He doesn't give you a hard time," I moaned. "Ha, listen to this, 'Let's flip a coin… heads, I get tail. Tails, I get head'."

"That's a win-win situation if I ever heard of one," Emmett said. "Charlie doesn't give me a hard time because I'm not trying to get into his daughter's pants. I'm just a friend. Oh, you _have_ to get this for Bella! She likes those romance books with vampires, right?"

"Yeah, I think so, she's mentioned them." Emmett removed a t-shirt from the rack and held it in front of him. It was black and on the top had a princess crown in silver and underneath it said 'Screw being a princess, I want to be a vampire' with a pair of teeth with dripping blood underneath.

"Oh, gimme one of those in her size!" Emmett threw another shirt in my direction and I caught it. It was no longer Christmas and nowhere near her birthday, but I hoped Bella would accept the shirt. "Hey, you should get this for Rose. 'I used to be fucking stupid, but then we broke up!' Ha ha!"

Emmett punched me in the shoulder and I winced. "Then you should get this one for Bella too, 'If your dick was as big as your mouth I'd be interested!' Who's laughin' now?"

"You've never seen my dick, doofus." One of the store employees walked past us and shot us an odd look. "I think we're being too loud."

"I think we've seen all the shirts anyway, let's move on." It was funny to listen to Emmett talk sometimes. He would suddenly say something that made him sound so much more… smarter than he really was. Not that the guy was stupid, but the 'let's move on' part of his statement seemed much more high class than he really was.

I was following behind Emmett when my attention was drawn to a shelf with a deck of playing cards which held promises of naked flesh when I bumped into Emmett's back. "Yo, freight train, run out of steam?"

"Oooooh, I wants it." And then there were times that he talked like he did a moment ago and he sounded like a total and complete retard.

"What do you wants?" And then I ended up talking like a total and complete retard because of the doofus.

"This." He stepped aside and his arm was outstretched like Vanna fuckin' White showing off a grand prize. "I wants it," he repeated.

I couldn't help but laugh. "A stripper pole? Are you leading a secret life I don't know about?"

"Not for me, well, directly anyway," he explained. "For Rose."

"Emmett, you're my brother and I have to give you some advice," I said and patted his shoulder. "If you actually bought that for Rose and gave it to her as a gift, Carlisle would be performing surgery on you because Rose would shove that thing so far up your ass there'd be no other way to get it out."

Defeated, Emmett sighed. "Oh, fuck me."

"Hell, no and stop pouting."

We continued to look through the store, commenting on the items as we walked past them. I'm sure the store employees were annoyed at us because we had become loud, but no one ever said anything directly to either of us. I had heard the familiar sound of the chime that alerted me to a text message. It was Carlisle, stating that he and Jasper were done and wanted to know where Emmett and I were. I texted him back that we were in Spencer's and I quickly received another text back from him and laughed out loud at what it said.

_You pervs. Be right there._

Now, my question was, did Carlisle know where Spencer's was located on his own, or was Jasper showing him the way? After I entered in a short message back to Carlisle ('Never denied it, see ya soon'), I realized that I had lost Emmett. We were in the rear area of the store and near the employee entrance to the back room when he was no longer next to me like he had been. How the hell did I manage to lose a guy of Emmett's size and stature? It wasn't as if he was a midget and could hide in the clothing racks like Alice –he was over six feet tall and built like a brick wall. "Great, I need to keep him on one of those leashes like a little kid," I said to myself.

"No you don't!" Emmett's head popped out from behind the curtain that separated the store from the back room.

"What are you doing back there?" I whispered and searched for any store employees that may be in the area. "Get the hell out of there!"

"I'm looking for the porn." He took a hold of my arm and dragged into the back room with him and was face to face with a girl. Or, should I say, the likeness of a girl.

"Cardboard cutouts?" I questioned. "What the hell do you do with a cardboard cutout of a girl?"

He had taken one of the cutouts and put his arm around it. "Cut a hole in a certain area and practice?"

"You're such a sexual deviant," I said. "Carlisle should send you for a psych eval."

"Nuh uh." He started to look at the back of the cutout. "I was kidding about practicing with it, moron."

"What are you doing? Is it bare assed or something?"

"No, unfortunately, she's fully clothed. I'm trying to see if there's a name or something on here," he said. "She's cute."

"You are demented," I said. "She's a bit curvier than your usual type."

"My usual type has been Rose." He continued to examine the back of the cutout. "I didn't know I liked redheads before now. She's got a nice figure. Now, who the hell is she?"

I started to examine the cutout closest to me. She was shorter than me and had dark, almost black hair and appeared to be of Hispanic descent but surprisingly pale. "Hey, of all things, check her ass area. This one says 'Betty Rodriguez' on her hip where she's showing some skin. Her ass reminds me of Bella's actually. You know, nice and curvy with something to grab onto."

"I did not need to know that about Bella's ass, thank you," he said as he squatted in front of the redhead cutout. "Yup, it's on her ass! Wait, I think it got cut off. It says Meg Ez and then the letters run off her ass and it's all squished."

"Meg Easy?"

"No, with a Z, Meg E-Z," he said with a laugh. "Easy Meg. Poor Meg, you're easy."

"Stop feeling sorry for a cardboard cutout." Why was I holding Betty by the waist? And why the hell was I referring to a piece of cardboard by a name? "Emmett, why are you staring at Meg's ass?"

"Meg has made me realize something about a girl's ass," Emmett said. "I'm enjoying the view here. I can see where the extra meat would be something nice to grab onto. I need to start feeding Rose French fries or something so she can gain a few pounds. But how do I get the fries to go directly to her ass? These are some sexy cardboard cut outs."

"What the hell are you two doing back here?" Uh oh. We turned, cardboard girls still in our arms, toward the voice and found that we were busted by a Spencer's employee. His eyes scanned us both before an eyebrow hitched in surprise. "You are two sexual deviants, aren't you?"

"No, sir," I said. "Emmett here is a sexual deviant, but I am not!" I removed my arm from Betty and she fell to the floor. "Betty!" I leaned down to pick her up and hoped I didn't damage her.

"Did you break her?" Emmett asked.

I examined Betty for any damage. "No, she seems to be okay."

"I repeat, what are you two doing back here?" the employee asked.

"We were looking for the porn." Emmett said. "Where do you keep it?"

"No, _he_ was looking for porn. I just have the unfortunate pleasure of being related to this doofus."

The employee's other eyebrow raised in surprise. He must be a descendant of Charlie's family. "We don't carry porn," he explained. "You two are related? We were taking bets from the security cameras that you were lovers."

"Lovers?" I glanced at Emmett. "Hell no! I wouldn't do him!"

"Hey!" Emmett yelled before what he was defending himself against really registered. "Wait, never mind. Yeah, we're brothers, actually. How much are the sexy cardboard cutouts?"

The eyebrows went down and he plastered on a frown. "They're not for sale."

"Emmett, we don't need cardboard cutouts," I said. "I have Bella and you have Rose."

"What are they?" the employee asked. "Your blow up dolls?"

"Bella and Rose are our girlfriends!" Emmett said seriously. "Now, how much will it cost for us to take Meg and Betty home?"

He stepped forward toward us. "Guys, Meg and Betty, as you so affectionately call them, are not for sale. Now, get out of here before I call mall security."

Emmett frowned. "Oh, come on man! We want to take Meg and Betty home!"

A movement to my right caught my attention, and I turned to see Carlisle and Jasper's heads pop in through the curtain—one on each side of the wall. "We thought we heard your voices. Boys, what are you doing back here and who are your new friends?"

"Cute girls," Jasper said. "Cheating on Bella and Rose now are we?"

"Bella and Rose _are_ human?" the employee asked. "I thought they were lying to me."

"Rose is my twin!" Jasper supplied.

I could tell that Carlisle was trying very hard not to laugh. "Are my sons in any kind of trouble, sir?"

"The big guy here," the employee nodded at Emmett. "You might want to take him for a psychological evaluation. He was back here looking for porn, which we don't carry, and then he asked how much the sexy cardboard cut outs were."

"Why on earth do you want a cardboard cut out and how did you manage to drag Edward into this?" Carlisle's and Jasper's heads were still the only thing inside of the back door, and it was becoming increasingly harder not to laugh at the scene.

"Your son is a sexual deviant," I said, nodding toward Emmett. "And I don't mean me! I'm just a little bit of a perv, which I think is normal for a sexually repressed guy at my age."

"Dad, see if you can talk him into letting me buy Meg and Betty!" Emmett said, his voice now sounding more and more excited about the prospect of taking Meg and Betty home with us.

"Emmett, you doofus, the girls are not whoring themselves out," I said, gently placing Betty back against the wall. "Say good-bye to Meg and let's go."

"Listen to your brother," Carlisle said. "If they're not for sale that means you can't buy them, Emmett. Put Meg and Betty back from where you got them from and stop giving this nice man a hard time."

"Aw, damn." Emmett leaned Meg back up against the wall next to Betty. "Bye, Meg! You made me realize I like redheads as well as blondes."

"See ya, Betty!" Uh, being around Emmett was dangerous to my health. I had just said goodbye to a sexy cardboard cut out.

Emmett pouted as we walked back through the store. I paid for the two t-shirts while he purchased a deck of those playing cards with promises of naked female flesh. He and Jasper had gotten their hands on a similar deck when they were younger, but over the years they had lost it. "Too bad the deck doesn't have Meg and Betty or some girls like them in it."

"We need to keep our eyes out for a deck of cards with some curvy chicks," I said.

"Amen, brother," Emmett agreed as we left Spencer's.

"Why did you name two cardboard cut outs Meg and Betty?" Carlisle asked.

"Yeah, I was wondering the same thing." Jasper said. "Why did you go through the trouble of naming two inanimate objects?"

"Those are their names!" I informed them. "Believe it or not, their names were on their ass."

I could've sworn I heard Carlisle mumble something about a psych eval for the both of us under his breath. While I resented that remark, Emmett resembled it, or whatever the saying was.

"Carlisle, you wanna see what else your son here, the demented sexual deviant, wanted to buy?" I asked while we were still outside of the store. Carlisle smiled and nodded, so I pointed to the stripper pole in the window. "That!"

"You fink!" Emmett grabbed me and, even though I tried to fight him off, he managed to put me in a headlock.

"Man, Emmett, if you weren't bigger than me, I'd totally have _you_ in headlock!" Jasper said. "You wanted to buy a damn stripper pole! That's my sister you're going out with!"

"Boys, knock it off," Carlisle instructed and Emmett released me. "You are not setting up a stripper pole in my house. If anyone gets to have one, it'd be me, so no more talk of stripper poles."

"You so did not just say that," Emmett winced. "Stop defiling my mother."

We started to walk away from the store front. "Emmett, how the hell do you think the three of us were created? They had to do _something_ in order for that to have happened."

"I was hoping for immaculate conception," he said teasingly. "Dad, seriously? I refuse to think of my own mother as a sexual object."

"Honestly, that's good because otherwise, I _would_ be taking you for that psych eval," Carlisle said. "Now, does anyone need anything else or can we get going to the hotel?"

Jasper was standing there shaking his head at my brother. "Let's get the hell out of here before Emmett gets us arrested for something."

"Wait!" Emmett said excitedly. "We have to stop at Godiva real quick. Rose said if I didn't bring her back some good chocolate that she'd um…well, cut off my balls."

"Well, by all means, let's go get Rose some chocolate." Carlisle laughed but so did Jasper and me. "I don't want to have to start telling people that I have one son and _two_ daughters."

We all ended up getting something for each of our girls, and Carlisle got something for Irene so she wouldn't feel left out. When we reached the Red Lion hotel, I felt hugely out of place and Emmett sensed it.

"Chill, man," he said. "This ain't too bad. It's not the Fairmount."

"What's that?" I asked.

"The Fairmount is high class," Emmett supplied. "I even feel weird there."

"Yeah, but your mom really enjoys it so that's why I think your dad will spend the big bucks there." Jasper said. "You know he likes to spoil her sometimes. The Fairmount has a sauna. I was there once and was paranoid I was going to break something and get into trouble."

Yeah, I was really glad Carlisle hadn't booked rooms for us there. What fun would it be to be worried about breaking something?

I silently wondered why Carlisle had gotten the four of us two rooms. He ushered Emmett, Jasper, and me into a room with two Queen sized beds. When we continued onto his room he also had two Queen sized beds. Maybe he didn't think he'd be able to put up with us the entire time? Because of the long drive, Carlisle wanted to relax for a bit before deciding on where to have dinner and what to do for the night.

The three of us went to our room to hang out for the foreseeable future when I stupidly raised a question to the pair.

"Guys, I wanted to ask you something." I was sitting on couch in our room. "What the hell does the phrase 'earn your red wings' mean?"

Both Emmett and Jasper started laughing hysterically. My brother fell down onto one of the beds, and he was laughing so hard I thought he was going to roll off of it. Jasper was holding his side and was bent over, laughing equally as hard as Emmett.

"What's so funny?" I asked. "Are you going to tell me what it means or not?"

"It means… it means…" Emmett tried to speak but kept cutting himself off with fits of laughter. "I can't!"

Jasper stood up straight and cleared his throat. "It means to go…when a guy… why me?"

"When a girl has her visit from Aunt Flow and a guy goes down on her, he earns his red wings," Emmett managed to say before the sound of his voice was muffled into his arm.

"Aunt Flow?" I was more confused than before.

"Aunt Flow is a nickname for a girl's….um, you know." Emmett couldn't stop smiling or laughing long enough to explain anything to me. It was a good thing he had never wanted to be a teacher. None of the kids in his class would learn a damn thing!

Jasper cleared his throat again, looked at me, and spoke so fast I thought Alice had temporarily taken over his body. "Aunt Flow is another name for a girl's period. A guy earns his red wings when he goes down on a girl when Aunt Flow is visiting."

"Ew!" I exclaimed. "What? There are guys who do that to a girl when she's… bleeding? That's sick!"

"Did Bella ask you about doing that?" Jasper, once again holding his side, sat down on the bed across from Emmett.

"No!" I wondered if Emmett and Jasper had told me the truth. "Are you two lying to me?"

"Nah, we ain't lying, right Jazz?"

"We're not lying, Edward." Jasper said. "I don't think either of us expected you to bring up such an odd question in such a clueless, innocent way."

"Yeah, like a deer caught in headlights type of deal." Emmett sat up. "What the hell are you and Bella doing in your bedroom when you're alone?"

"That's none of your business! She'd probably kill me if I told you." I needed to change the subject onto something safer and brought up the sleeping arrangements. "What's the deal with the beds? Two big beds and then there's one big guy, one medium guy, and one scrawny guy."

"Who the hell you callin' medium?" Jasper folded his arms over his chest.

"Compared to Emmett!"

Jasper glared at me through half closed eyes. "You can bunk with me, but don't think I'm gonna cuddle with you. You try anything and you'll find yourself junk punched so hard you'll be tasting your balls from your throat."

"I feel the love, Jazz." I flopped down on bed next to him. "I'd _much_ rather snuggle with Bella than you."

"Hey, scrawny ass, you should come down into the basement and work out with us more," Emmett offered. "Maybe it'd get you out of that weird awkward prepubescent stage you seem to be in _still_. Getcha some muscles and grow some chest hair."

Jasper fell back down on the bed and was trying not to laugh. "Maybe it'd help his voice to finally change!"

"My voice is just fine," I said defensively and of course it cracked and sounded like Peter Brady in that very special episode of the _Brady Bunch_ where he went through puberty. That only caused Jasper and Emmett to laugh some more at my expense. "Ah, shut up you two!"

Thankfully, a knock on the door interrupted their attack on my masculinity. To escape them, I went to answer the door and cringed when I flung it open.

"Stop looking so happy to see me and invite me in."

Charlie Swan was in the hallway of the Red Lion asking for entrance to our room. I wondered if I slammed the door in his face if he'd go away like a bad dream. I knew Bella had stayed at my house to a have a girls night, but did that mean her father had to follow us to Seattle and torture me?

Yo, life, what the fuck?

"Carlisle's in the room next door, right?" Charlie asked, and I nodded my head. "There's a do not disturb sign hanging from the door knob so you're stuck with me."

Oh, shit.

As it turned out, Charlie did indeed purchase a ticket for the game and Carlisle extended an invitation to stay with us. I sure as hell hoped Charlie was actually going to be staying in the room with Carlisle because I wouldn't be able to be my big mouthed normal self if he was staying with the three of us. In the meantime, we attempted small talk. Attempted was the key word. Charlie was not the type that's too much into talking. I did find out that he hadn't come with us because he needed to finish up some work at the station first. I then proceeded to pray that Carlisle would wake up and even contemplated waking him up myself.

My prayers must have worked because there was a knock on the door followed by Carlisle's voice. "Boys?"

"Oh, thank you baby Jesus," Emmett muttered, jumping from his bed and to the door. Jasper and I started laughing when Emmett opened the door and upon seeing Carlisle standing there, hugged him and said, "Father! Our savior!"

I had no idea where the hell he got some of his shit from sometimes.

The five of us stuck together for dinner. After that, since Emmett and Jasper knew their way around some, we split up. The three of us went the movies and walked around the Westlake Center some more. I felt bad that Carlisle had to entertain Charlie all night on his own. Maybe he'd talk more to Carlisle because they were closer in age? Or maybe when we got older men stopped talking and communicated in a series of grunts and glances that I hadn't learned how to interpret yet?

Now, if we were girls, walking around the Westlake Center would be like heaven on earth. However, we're guys with girlfriends, so we got bored pretty quickly and headed back to the hotel. We saw a light from Carlisle and Charlie's room peeking out from under the door so we knocked and found them playing cards. Emmett, Jasper, and I joined them a few hands of poker. I thought Emmett was doing well but it's hard to tell when you're playing with pretzels and you keep eating your winnings.

Food. It'd always be Emmett's downfall. Well, Rose would be counted in the small list also. Once she called, Emmett hightailed it back to our room. Jasper's cell rang and he ran almost as quickly back to our room as Emmett had. Anticipating a phone call of my own, I wasn't let down when my own cell started ringing from my back pocket. I talked to Bella for a minute, let Charlie say good night to Bella, and then ran back to our room. It was kind of a funny sight to see all three of us in one room whispering on cell phones to our girlfriends.

On Saturday we headed to the stadium with Charlie shoved into the car with us. It was a little bit too close for comfort in the back of the Mercedes if you asked me. I'm not a huge football fan nor did I know all ins and outs of the game, but the experience was fun. The shouting cheers for the teams and the adrenaline rush of a live game at a stadium was something I had never done before. Like Frank, I could have done without the cold, but we brought along blankets and huddled underneath them for what warmth we could gather.

"If we ever do this again, I'm getting tickets to a game earlier in the season." Everyone laughed. "What? Do you enjoy freezing your asses off?"

Carlisle smiled. "I'm glad you'd want to do this again."

"We all need some 'Man Time' every once in a while," Jasper said. "Right guys?"

The four of us raised our coffee and hot chocolates in the air and did that Tim Allen grunting noise from _Home Improvement_. Charlie was sitting by himself a few rows back and caught sight of our raised cups. He shook his head at us and then Carlisle went to keep him company since there was an open seat next to him.

The next morning when we were packing the car to leave, I somehow ended up agreeing to ride home with Charlie so he wouldn't be alone on the three and a half hour drive. As he pulled out of the parking garage and entered the street, I internally kicked myself and wanted to bang my head against the dash board. Why? Why did I agree to such torture?

"So, uh, Edward…" Charlie's finger strummed the steering wheel.

"Did you enjoy the game?"

"Yeah." He continued to stare straight ahead. "I had a good time."

"Good." I nodded and searched my mind for safe topics for a conversation with Charlie. After a few minutes, I came to the conclusion that I didn't have a clue what to talk to him about.

"Dinner was good last night," he said. Charlie was acting kind of odd, almost as if he wanted to say something but couldn't figure out how to bring the subject. I figured it had something to do with Bella or our activities. There was no way in hell I was going to sit in a car and have a discussion about sex with my girlfriend's father. I'd rather kick myself in the balls.

"Yeah, the burgers were good. I don't think I've had a vegetable or fruit since we left Forks."

"Don't tell your mother that." Charlie continued to stare straight ahead at the road in front of us. At least I knew he was a safe, attentive if not boring driver.

"Oh, Esme would not approve."

The silence between us grew to an uncomfortable level. I wished I could at least accomplish some kind of small talk with Charlie, but not only did I not know what topics were safe, but it seemed as if he was incapable of small talk. He clicked on the radio and the music that came out of the speakers was full of static. No satellite radio for Charlie.

I dug my iPhone out of my jacket pocket and browsed the apps, searching for a game to play. I knew that the ride home was going to feel a hell of a lot longer than it actually was if I had to deal with this kind of silence from Charlie. If only I had been alone in a car with Bella instead of her father!

* * *

**A/N: **The Westlake Center does exist, but there isn't a Spencer's or Classy Cuts inside of it. I wrote part of this waaaay back in like, October 2009 or something, and it was originally intended as an outtake from when the gang went shopping for Christmas. I was told by a few cardboard cutouts that it was just too damn good not to include in a chapter. Blue Flame BBQ, Red Lion Hotel and Fairmount are also real.


	42. The Day Bella Caught Me Watching Porn

**Disclaimer:** I'm not SMeyer, V.C. Andrews, or anyone else important. I'm just writing some shit.

**A/N:** Long time, no chapter, huh? Uh, yeah, sorry again. *hangs head in shame* At least when I do post you usually get a big honkin' chapter that clocks in at like 9K or 11K like this one and not some puny 2K deal. Am I right? Just nod your heads, please. I feel guilty enough.

I'm mentioning this not because I hope to win, but because maybe it'll find me some new readers somehow. _Legacy_ was nominated at the _Twilight All Human Fan Fiction Awards_ in the category _The Fan Fiction That Had You Hooked For Drama. _Voting ends 9/13/10.

Didja know? I posted two Outtakes from _Chapter 40: I Love You_ and a one shot called _For the Love of Fried Dough_. Go check 'em out!

If you tried to contact me through this site and couldn't, my PM's were turned off for some reason. They are back on and working again. You can contact me here or via Twitter or eacullen91 via gmail.

So, thanks for the reviews, the word of mouth recs, a big thanks to my pre-readers, and to Katie who beta'd this chapter for me. *mwha* and smooshies to all of you. If you like it, let me know! I love my reviews and my reviewers!

**Warning for those of the "faint of heart variety" (_you weaklings_!) or underage folk (what are _you_ doing _here_?): **There are some sexy times contained within this chapter, but like the rest of my smut, it doesn't get too damned detailed.

* * *

**Chapter 42: The Day Bella Caught Me Watching Porn**

_Sunday, January 4__th__ – February 6__th__, 2009_

Silence.

Complete and utter fucking silence.

After about twenty minutes I was tempted to imitate bird calls just to hear something other than the engine noise from Charlie's car. I didn't even know any bird calls! Banging my head against the dash board and knocking myself out cold seemed pretty appealing. I came to the conclusion that I wasn't too good at the silence deal. I had no problem sitting in a movie theater with Bella and keeping my eyes _mostly_ glued to the screen, but put me in a car with Charlie and I felt myself going mad at the lack of noise.

I was like a little kid. I needed to be entertained, occupied. And Charlie just wasn't doing it for me.

Bored of solitaire, I tried listening to some music, but I couldn't find my usual enjoyment in any of the musical fare I had downloaded onto my iPhone.

Daydream. Oh, shit, no, don't daydream. My mind would auto focus to Bella and our extracurricular activities and sportin' some wood in the passenger seat of your girlfriend's father's car certainly wasn't appropriate.

Nuh-uh.

I allowed my mind to wander slightly. Suddenly, something popped up in my head. I was grateful that I had asked Emmett and Jasper about "earning your red wings" and hadn't been stupid enough to ask Charlie. Sure, it would have been funny as hell to see Charlie's reaction at first, but if he knew what the phrase meant he'd probably pull over and… well, I wasn't sure what he'd do to me. Leave me on the side of the road just outside Seattle? Yell accusingly at me? Stare at me silently, his eyes bearing deep into me while showing his disapproval over my subject of choice?

I started laughing uncontrollably and unfortunately it wasn't inside my head. Charlie glanced over at me, one eyebrow raised in question before he faced straight ahead again. His one raised eyebrow reminded me of his eyebrow dance and I started laughing again.

"Edward?"

I tried to stifle my laughter long enough to answer. "Yeah?"

"What the hell are you laughing at?"

"Something in my head." Remembering his eyebrow dance the day that he caught me and Bella up in her room and thought we were fooling around, I cleared my throat in order to reign myself in.

"Something in your head." Charlie repeated as he continued to stare straight ahead with a death grip on the steering wheel. "Ooookay."

"I got you something from the Westlake Center."

I imagined Charlie's eyes darting back and forth between me and the road, trying to figure out what the hell I would've gotten him. "You didn't buy me beer, did you?"

"Do I look that stupid to you?" He tried not to laugh at my question. Charlie's laughter is not natural and sounds more like an animal being strangled. "Forget I asked. Can you buy beer at the Westlake Center? I don't know. I got something for Bella, too."

And then it went silent for another ten minutes until my phone beeped.

_How's it going w/ Mr Talkative?_

Of course, it was Emmett rubbing in the fact that I was the one stuck with Charlie.

_Fucking fantastic, thanks for caring!_

Bastard.

"So, um, Edward…" Charlie paused and there was a painful looking expression on his face. I wondered if he had gas and thought about cracking open a window.

"Look, Charlie, I'm well aware of the fact that you don't do the talking thing all that well." I said. "I'm doing my best to keep my mouth shut."

"Actually, I wanted to talk to you about something."

Hold the boat! Charlie wanted to talk to me? That was almost a bigger surprise than… oh hell, the fact that I had been kidnapped.

"Huh?"

"I thought you were supposed to be smart like Bella?"

"I am!" My voice cracked like Peter Brady again. It was a good thing I didn't want a singing career. "We're in some of the same classes and my grades are good."

"Good to know," he said. "You know I only want Bella to be happy, right?"

"I know." Isn't that what parents usually wanted for their kids? "Sorry if I don't fit into your perfectly planned equation for her."

"I never had an equation for Bella's happiness." Charlie sighed and his fingers tapped at the steering wheel. "Although for some reason Bella plus Edward seems to equal happiness for her."

"Are you feeling okay?" I was tempted to raise my hand to his forehead to check if he had a fever. "Carlisle is a doctor, remember? Maybe we should pull over and he can check you out or I can take over and drive if you don't feel well."

"I'm not sick, Edward." It was the aliens! Did they possess him and let his brain free now and then? Was he possessed by one of them now? "And I haven't been taken over by aliens either. Knock that crap off."

Poor Charlie had been taken over by aliens, possessed, and now he was a mind reader! He shook his head. "Did Bella talk to you at all about what happened with her mother or with her talk with Esme?"

"I tried to get her to talk to me about what happened," I said. "I think it hurts or embarrasses her to talk too much about it with me because a lot of it has to do with her self-image and self confidence. I've never asked her to change anything about herself for me."

Charlie nodded. "Good."

And then I dropped the bomb. I found myself cowered in the corner of the seat, pushed tightly against the window as if pressing against it would release me from the car. "Did she tell you that she decided she wants to go on the pill…just in case?"

I pictured Charlie pulling over and dragging me out of the passenger side. After he was through with me, I was left on the side of the road for the vultures to circle over.

"No, she hadn't gotten around to talking to me about that yet," he said with a bit of relief in his voice. "That's going to be one awkward doctor's visit. Esme will have to go with us."

I was alive! How the hell did I manage that? My mind was still foggy from surprise when my phone beeped again with another message from Emmett.

_What's going on?_

I was alive to see another day, that's what was going on!

_I told Charlie that Bella wants to go on the pill._

Not even thirty seconds later, my phone rang. When I answered Emmett's call he only responded with, "I had to make sure it was really you and not Charlie texting on your phone covering up his crime."

"Thanks for caring."

"If he kills you, can I have your laptop since it's newer than mine?"

"Sure, why not?" I said. "I bequeath my laptop to you."

"Awesome." I heard a rustle of noise and Emmett mumbled something intelligible. "Bequeath your clothes to Jasper, huh? It's the least you can do."

"Okay, they're his."

"We're stopping at Blue Flame for lunch on the way back," he informed me. "It should help you keep your sanity."

"_Awesome._"

Another ten minutes dragged by in silence. Ten excruciatingly long, painful minutes. Six-hundred slowly passed seconds.

"Oh, for the love of God, Charlie, speak!" The words left my mouth before I had a chance to stop them.

"I don't know what to talk to you about," he confessed. "The only things we have in common are Bella and your family."

"Bella is great."

Charlie's head turned partially toward me and then back to the road. "Yes she is."

"You did a great job raising her on your own."

"Esme helped." It sounded as if he tried to stifle a chuckle. "She's been my savior."

"Oh? How so?" I asked.

"All those nights or days when I needed a baby sitter and the advice she gave me throughout the years. She was the one that gave all those talks that I can't seem to give because a mother is supposed to give them to her daughter." He sighed. "Esme did that. She filled in the maternal role and has always been there for Bella."

"Somehow, I can't imagine her turning you down." I wondered what it would've been like to have grown up with Bella instead of meeting her when we were seventeen. Would I have felt only brotherly feelings toward her? Or did fate predestine us to be together as a couple? "How'd you meet my family?"

"Your parents were new to town and Esme had gotten a parking ticket," he explained. "She came into the station to pay it and on that day the baby sitter flaked out on me. I was trying to deal with everything going on and an upset nine month old that was hungry and fussy. Esme came to my rescue."

I tried to imagine Charlie dealing with nine month old Bella on his own. Somehow, I didn't see him handling it all that well. "That's the most I think I've ever heard you talk. I should call that record book thingie. Oh, Guinness, that's it."

"Smart ass."

"You should know that by now."

"I feel the need to reiterate it every once in a while."

"Oh, big word there, Charlie," I said. "Did you borrow Emmett's Word of the Day calendar for ninth graders?"

"Shut it," he said, imitating, well, me. "Play with your phone or…something."

"I knew _conversating_ with you wouldn't last very long." Digging my phone back out of my pocket, I searched through all the apps Alice had downloaded onto it. It seemed as if I currently had the attention span of an infant because nothing seemed to interest me. "Come on, Charlie, speak. You can do it. _Speak_."

"Woof, woof," he said without even turning in my direction. Too bad I didn't understand dog, but I was sure that he had probably said something along the lines of "Fuck off, Edward."

I stared out the window until we reached Blue Flame. Once inside, I talked Emmett and Jasper's ears off like I was never going to speak again until Carlisle kicked me from under the table. "Son, can't you shut up for a minute?"

I was very thankful when Carlisle made the decision that he'd ride back with Charlie and Emmett would drive Carlisle's car. I couldn't lie—I was so happy that I almost shed a tear. Before we got back on the road, I gave Charlie the bag with the gifts for him and Bella.

On the ride back to Forks both Emmett and Jasper threatened to throw me out of the car.

"Damn, Edward, next time you can drive in one of the cars by yourself," Jasper said. "You're like a pre-teen girl on the phone. You just won't shut up!"

"I spent too much time with Charlie and not speaking to his non-verbal self," I explained. "I'm going through talking withdrawals."

Emmett and Jasper were good sports and continued to put up with me for the rest of the ride. Or maybe they did their best to ignore me. I couldn't be totally sure.

Being non-verbal really never bothered me before. I'd go to school and basically speak only in reply to anyone that actually asked me a question. At home I'd talk to Peter and Liz, but I was alone in my room for hours on end. A few weeks of being a Cullen, being around other people almost constantly and now I couldn't shut the fuck up.

Once we reached Forks, we pulled over and Carlisle joined us again. I would have liked nothing better than to go visit with Bella, but I knew at the present moment that it just wasn't possible. Gathering our luggage and walking through the garage, we found the house to be quiet when we entered through the kitchen. The quiet quickly dissipated the longer we stood there because from the back room we heard loud snoring.

"That better be Frank sawing wood or we've been visited by Goldilocks." Carlisle said.

Emmett dropped his suitcase and headed toward the noise. "No one's eating _my_ damn porridge."

Carlisle, Jasper, and I left our things behind and followed after Emmett. Before we made it to the back room, muffled laughter rang out from my brother. "It's Grandpa," he said. "Come and look at this."

We found Frank sitting on the couch, one arm on the armrest, his head back against a pillow. That wasn't unusual. However, his face was covered in green gook.

"Poor guy." Jasper sighed. "The girls got him with one of Alice's mud masks."

"Shhhhh," Carlisle said. "Don't wake him. Edward, do you have your camera?"

I patted my jacket pocket. "Yeah."

He ran upstairs and we had strict orders to leave Frank alone. Carlisle returned with a hand held mirror, a tripod, and a huge grin plastered on his face. He quickly set up the tripod and then pronounced, "It's picture time!"

The four of us knelt on the floor behind the couch and Frank, thumbs raised in a corny fashion, and big smiles on our faces.

"I feel like we shot a Mentos commercial," Emmett said. "Great. Now I freakin' want Mentos."

Carlisle whistled as he folded up the tripod. "That's Christmas card material right there."

"I don't think Esme would agree." Jasper said as he checked out the picture on my camera. "Sweet. It looks good. Email that to me."

Carlisle sat down on the couch next to Frank and started to nudge him to wake him up. Frank blinked a few times, smacked his lips together, and then rubbed his eyes. "Oh hey, you're back!"

"How long have you been sitting here?" Carlisle asked seriously. "I'm worried it's been far too long, Frank."

"Oh, no, I haven't been here that long," he said. "Maybe an hour or two. Why?"

"You're growing mold, Grandpa." Emmett said. I wasn't sure how he was able to keep a straight face. "You're all green."

"What the hell are you talking about boy?" Frank turned back to Carlisle, his brow furrowed in confusion. "You dropped him on his head too many times, didn't you?"

"You're all green," I turned to Jasper. "Right Jazz?"

Jasper shook his head in agreement. "Your face is all green, Frank."

Carlisle attempted to hand Frank the mirror. At first Frank wouldn't take it, but Carlisle kept insisting. All it took was for Frank to touch is own face for just a second and when he felt the texture of the mud mask his eyes got wide. "Mold! Gimme that mirror!" Carlisle handed the mirror over to him and I bit my lip to stop myself from laughing. "How did this happen?"

I can't remember who started laughing first, but the four of us stood there out of breath while Frank's gaze switched back and forth between us and the mirror. "What the hell is on my face?"

It took a few minutes and some soap and water to convince my grandfather that he had not grown mold on his face. I kept quiet about the picture and later on Carlisle told us not to say anything. I assumed that Frank would be seeing it sooner or later. Afterward, Emmett dragged me and Jasper out to Chinook for a Mentos run.

Later on when I was up in my room alone and unpacking, reality came slamming back full force—winter break was over and school started the next day. I'd have to deal with my classmates again and their stares and whispers. It was a relief that my little runaway stint hadn't gone any farther than my family and hadn't been written about in the newspaper. My classmates whispered enough about me, was there any reason to add more fuel to the fire?

Monday morning arrived too damn soon for its own good. In my bleary eyed state, I rolled over onto Sabrina in an attempt to turn off my alarm clock. In the midst of me accidentally suffocating her, Sabrina woke up and sunk her claws into my arm. I wanted to roll back over, dig deep into my covers, and go back to sleep. But I couldn't hide from life.

I slept-walked through my shower, dressing, and even brushing my teeth. I wasn't even sure how I managed to make it downstairs to the kitchen in one piece.

"Edward, you kind of look like hell."

"Thanks, Esme."

"Rough night?"

"Not really." I yawned. "Gotta get used to getting up early again."

I ate whatever Esme put in front of me and I'd be damned if I could recall what it even was. I said goodbye Frank and Irene, giving them each a hug before leaving for school. Carlisle was taking them to the airport during the day so they could return to California. I was going to miss them, but that revelation didn't hit me until later on in the day.

Too tired to drive, I hopped a ride to school with Emmett and I started to wake up a bit when we swung by Bella's to pick her up.

At lunch I realized she had worn the t-shirt I had bought her from the Westlake Center. "You like it, huh?" I asked, pointing to her shirt.

"Yes, and it's about time you noticed I was wearing it." She had a scowl across her face.

"I'm sorry." I leaned over and kissed her cheek. "I'm literally just now waking up."

If anyone had stared or whispered that first day of school, I didn't notice. I was too tired to care. The next day I did indeed notice a few looks and whispers, but things had toned down considerably since the revelation of my birthright first took place.

In gym, Mike and Angela talked to me while we did laps indoors. Mike wanted to go to the movies and was trying to get a group together to carpool. Dinner and a movie in Port Angeles kind of deal. Did Bella and I want to go? Not wanting to answer for her, I told Mike I'd get back to him. I wasn't totally sure I'd want to go. It really depended on who else was going to show for the night. I wasn't in mood to hang out with a bunch of two-faced classmates who whispered about me behind my back.

After talking with Bella about hanging out with Mike and Angela, she agreed with me. I was so glad and happy to have an understanding girlfriend who didn't care to hang out with half the school either. I spoke to Mike about the situation and he was so happy to get out of Forks for one night that he didn't care if it was just the four of us.

That Friday I drove the four of us to Port Angeles. It wasn't considered a double date because Mike and Angela weren't dating and it didn't seem as if Mike had any interest in Angela besides friendship. Thankfully for my sanity and Mike's nose, he didn't stare and drool at Bella like he had in the past. To be honest, it was nice to hang out with other people other than my own siblings. Don't get me wrong—I enjoyed my time with Emmett and Alice, but seeing that we're together so much, it was nice to do something with others for once. I continued to bond with Mike and Angela during gym and out of school as well. I asked Bella if she minded if I was friends with a girl that wasn't related to me or already dating someone. She claimed that she didn't mind, and I hoped she was telling me the truth and not covering up any fears for my sake. In case Bella wasn't being completely honest, I tried not to hang out with Angela if no one else was around. To quote something Alice had said once, "I don't need the drama." Mike came over a few times and we'd watch movies or play video games. I met him at the Bowling Alley after the end of his shift and we played a few frames. I was slow to build any kind of friendship with Mike and Angela, slightly afraid of my life being shredded apart like the last time I made friends. But seriously, what else could happen to twist my life around?

Not only did I bond with Mike and Angela, but I continued to grow closer to Esme. We made it a point to talk and continued to ask each other questions. In the middle of the day I'd think of something I'd like to know so I'd jot it down for later. Feeling more comfortable around her, she rarely got on my nerves unless I had a bad day and was in a crappy mood. I continued to be her shadow in the kitchen, helping out and learning whenever possible. The two of us even went to lunch twice in January. We would sit at the piano together and she attempted to teach me how to play better. Esme even declared that I probably would have turned out to be a damn fine piano player if I had lessons early on.

Her declaration made me sad for a few moments. It was just another reminder of what I lost out on in my life.

One cold Saturday night, Esme was showing me how she made homemade chicken soup and for some reason, a thought came to me.

"Did you get to hold me?"

She stopped what she was doing and turned to face me. "What?"

"Did you get to hold me?" I repeated the question. "Before I was taken?"

"A…a… few times," she stuttered. "To feed and change you. But it wasn't nearly enough."

"I'm sorry."

"It wasn't your fault." Esme reached out to touch my face, but backed away. "You had no control over what happened when you were two days old."

I wasn't sure what came over me right then. Maybe I felt sorry for her because she only had two days to hold, feed, and even change me. Only a mother would feel guilty and sad about not being able to change shitty diapers.

Stepping forward, I embraced Esme. Her arms easily slid around my waist and up my back without hesitation.

Something changed that day. After that, it seemed as if I tried harder with Esme but I wasn't always consciously aware of my decision. I talked to her more frequently. I touched her more often. It slowly became easier to be around her. The few times that she did start to annoy me were regrettable but unavoidable. On those occasions I'd take a deep breath and count to ten. Or twenty. Whatever was needed.

_She's your mother and she's missed you for seventeen years you idiot. Give her a break._ I'd say to myself. It was like my own imaginary kick in the ass when Emmett wasn't around to do the job for me.

Alice's panic attacks subsided but Carlisle explained that they might never totally go away. She might have always had them but not at the level she had experience since I returned. I was just that little extra oomph to throw that switch in her brain that made them more noticeable and worse. Geez, that made me feel a whole hellva lot better, ya know? He tried to explain that panic attacks can manifest in several different ways, but I had attempted to look up information on them and found that out already.

One day in the middle of January, I was outside with Emmett and Jasper goofing around in the snow. The two of them teamed up against me and were relentlessly throwing snow balls in my direction. Unable to catch a break and freezing my ass off, I ran inside with the two of them hot on my heels. I made a mad dash toward Carlisle, who was sitting at the kitchen table. Using him as a shield, I stood behind his chair with one arm wrapped arm around him, cowering behind him. "Save me, Dad!"

It was a vain attempt to say the least as we were both pelted with snow balls.

"Boys!" Esme yelled. "You were raised to be more civilized than that! Snow does not belong in the house. Emmett and Jasper, clean up your mess!"

There were mumblings of 'sorry's' from the two snow throwers as Carlisle and I hurried into the kitchen and wiped the white powder into the sink. Carlisle was looking at me funny and then I realized why. I had called him 'Dad' and there were others around at the time. I turned to see if Esme was still nearby and found her supervising Emmett and Jasper.

"I didn't even realize it," I said. "I hope she doesn't get mad."

"You've been trying really hard with her." He rubbed his hands on a kitchen towel. "I think she'll be okay." And then Carlisle hugged me so hard I thought he was going to break one of my ribs.

Afraid of hurting her feelings, I tried very hard not to refer to Carlisle as Dad when Esme was around. Sometimes I slipped and it came out when she was there. There were times when I realized it right away and others when I had a 'light bulb' moment later on and kicked myself for it. I didn't want to hurt her intentionally and kept on hoping she wouldn't get mad that I wasn't calling her 'Mom'. Even though we were becoming closer, for some reason I just wasn't there with her yet.

The rest of January flew by in a flurry of mid-terms. I helped Emmett study for his exams and by the end of the month, I needed a break. My brain was tired. I wanted some time alone with Bella but because of Charlie, that wasn't going to happen. Or was it?

_Saturday, February 7__th__, 2009_

It was a lazy, boring Saturday in the beginning of February. Carlisle and Esme were on a date as were Emmett and Rose and Alice and Jasper. But me? My damn ass was stuck home alone like ten-year old Macaulay Culkin.

I had the entire house to myself but I was sitting in my bedroom all by my lonesome. Why?

I blamed Chief Charlie Swan.

I craved some uninterrupted time with my own girlfriend. Charlie on the other hand, had ideas of his own. He wanted to spend some quality time with her—quality time which did not involve my sorry ass. Today of all days.

Insert screams of anguish and horror from a horny teenage boy here.

So, there I was lying on my bed, flipping through the gazillions of channels my family subscribed to, but nothing peaked my interest. Nothing at all.

Until that fateful moment I came across a channel that was for the most part scrambled from my viewing pleasure.

"_Ooh, ahhh, ohhh, yesss… oooh."_

Oooh, I saw a tit! Wait, wait… that was an ass… but I couldn't tell who it belonged to. Oh, hey, it belonged to the girl. Thank you! I could enjoy that! Ah, crap, the signal distorted, turned into white fuzz before the screen once again flashed a partial view of someone's skin. Ew, damn, that time it was a guy's ass. You damn channel, show the girl again!

In between groans and moans of pleasure, the scrambled video feed nearly scrambled my eyes to death. I felt like I was going cross eyed.

"_Yes! Yes! Oh, yes! Ahhh… Oh God, I'm gonna come!"_

She wasn't the only one.

I flicked the channel off and threw the remote on the night stand. Great, I was horny and alone. My eyes landed on my laptop across the room at my desk. I had never used a computer much before I had been returned to my family. Peter and Liz were barely able to pay the monthly bills let alone afford something as non-essential as a computer. Not knowing any better, I never complained and only sought out computers at libraries for school work. Lately, I had learned the joys of the Internet. I emailed and chatted with my aunts and uncle. Emmett, Jasper, and Carlisle sent me jokes via email even though we lived in the same house.

Tonight, I needed the Internet in the worst way possible. It made me feel slightly dirty just thinking about it. Could my family somehow see what I had been looking at? Would they even care? The thought of Carlisle telling me to stop looking at naked ladies at the dinner table came to mind.

Nah, he's not that uncouth.

Right?

I never could tell. After all, he did sire me and Emmett.

As I continued to stare at my computer, I knew there was something on the Internet that could help me. Something I hadn't sought out because I always had Bella.

Porn.

I was a horribly sick person and was probably going to hell for wanting to ogle strange naked ladies. But I wouldn't be alone, that was for damn sure. It was probably a multi-million dollar business. Bella wasn't there with me, so what else was I supposed to do? As I rose from my bed and crossed the room I thought if I was going to hell, I might as well enjoy the ride.

Sitting at my desk, another thought came to me. How did I view porn? There was no way in the world I was going to pay for it. After all, I was sure Carlisle saw my credit card bill. How the hell would I explain that one?

I quickly imagined the subject of why there was a charge from a company called "Tits, tits and more tits," "Sexoholics," "Sexytimez," or whatever on my credit card coming up in a chat with Carlisle. No, I didn't want to go through that either.

I sat there, my email open in front of me, thinking of excuses not to go in search of porn. It wasn't right to watch other people doing _that_. I couldn't call it making love. No, that wasn't right. They were actors getting paid to fuck. Did I want to get off on porn?

Bella wasn't anywhere in sight and I had a growing ache in my groin.

Again, I asked myself, did I want to get off on porn? Duh. Forget "ask a stupid question, get a stupid answer." It was more like, "ask a stupid question, get the most obvious answer."

God, yes. Yes, I did want to get off on porn.

I sure as hell wasn't going to enter "porn" into Google as I imagined there would be too many results. There was YouTube for regular videos… wait a minute! Mike mentioned a video site that he was drooling over one time when we were hanging out. What the hell was it called? It wasn't YouTube. No! It was YouPorn.

I quickly typed the address and was rewarded when the site loaded. I wasn't eighteen years of age but I pressed the "enter" button as if I were. My vision was immediately overloaded with little preview boxes containing naked women.

Jackpot!

Oh God, where to start? Where the hell to start?

_Public Cock Sucking Party_

Too much dick.

_Hotty Fingering_

Eh… maybe. I'd keep it in mind.

_Girls Kissing_

Well now, that could be interesting. I clicked the link and was forced to watch a short commercial. I was filled with anticipation but was let down when the video turned out to be just two girls kissing. Nothing overly sexy. The video didn't even stray away from their heads. That kind of shit wasn't of any use to me! Two girls kissing and groping and be able to see them naked—that I could see as being a turn on.

_Tasty Blonde Bangs Big Cock Stud_

That sounded more promising. Clicking on it, I was able to bypass an advertisement and go straight to the sexual goodness. It was an enjoyable three minutes.

I searched and searched. I watched and watched.

_Bruce fucks two sexy MILFs for his birthday_

Jeez, I couldn't figure out what the hell to do with one girl. How the hell did guys try to get off two women? I skipped that one. Too much pressure.

I watched clip after clip. I saw some things I wish I could forget. Weird shit. Found out I wasn't into bondage. However, I did enjoy a clip of two lesbians doing everything under the sun, well, under the sun, in what represented a pubic park. I went back to _Hotty Fingering_ and was surprised to find myself quite enamored with it. Clicking on a similar video, I had to wait for another advertisement to play. While I waited, I imagined what it would be like to watch Bella completely naked on my bed, feeling comfortable enough to play with herself in front of me. I could see her hands roaming over her bare breasts as she played with her nipples. As my mind wandered further and imagined Bella touching her clit and her body's reaction I was rudely interrupted.

"Edward, what the fuck are you doing?"

My head whipped violently to the right toward the sound of a familiar voice and I jumped in my seat. My girlfriend was standing in the entryway to my bedroom and I was sitting at my computer desk. The air was filled with moans from some skinny redhead inside of my computer because she was pleasuring herself. My hand flew to the mouse, pausing the video. "Bella?" Thank God it wasn't my mother. "What are you doing here?"

"Charlie could tell that I… oh, damn it, I need to explain to you why I'm here?" She pointed at the screen. "What the hell are you doing?"

"I was horny and you weren't here, thanks to Charlie," I said. "How'd you get in?"

"I have a key, remember?" Bella slammed my bedroom door loudly and then walked over and stood next to my chair. "This is normal, isn't it? For guys to drool at this kind of stuff."

"I'd like to think so." She was wearing a skirt and I had to tear my eyes away from her legs. Looking up at her, I smiled. "I'm not a sex addict or anything. I didn't pay for any of this. It's just free stuff I found." She continued to look at me disapprovingly. "You weren't here!"

Bella exhaled and her head fell back as she stared at the ceiling. "Please tell me you weren't watching anything weird like guys fucking animals or young kids or something."

"No, no!" I said. "I may be a pervert, but I am not _that_ type of sick pervert. No bestiality and anyone that does that type of shit to a kid should be tortured and shot as far as I'm concerned. I'm your loveable pervert."

She dropped her head and met my gaze. "I'm so glad you have a classification for yourself."

"Want to watch something with me?" I could have kicked myself. What the hell was I thinking? Obviously I didn't have enough blood circulating in my brain.

Bella looked away for a moment before meeting my gaze. "I can't believe you just asked me that."

"Quite frankly, I can't believe I'm still alive." Or not curled up in a ball because she kicked me in the nads, but I wasn't going to give her any ideas.

That was when she surprised me. Bella moved in front of me and sat down on my lap. My arms encircled her waist and brought her closer to me. I groaned when Hell rubbed up against Pogo.

"Don't blow your load yet, buddy." She grabbed the mouse from the desk and used it against her leg. "What were you watching?" Bella clicked the play button and saw the skinny redhead female fondling herself. "Oh."

"I was imagining it was you on my bed."

Her breath hitched. "Oh," she repeated again. "I don't know if I could let you watch me do something like that."

Her eyes were on the screen and her fingers hit the mouse, going back to the previous page. "Have you ever touched yourself and thought of me?" I asked. "I have and I've thought about you."

"A few times," she whispered.

I couldn't see her face, but I imagined that she was biting her lip in embarrassment. Planting a kiss along the side of her neck, I whispered in her ear. "That makes me happy."

I soon found out that Bella was finicky with her porn. She'd click on a link and we'd start to watch it. Halfway through some of the clips she'd click back or search for something else.

"Not sure what you like, huh?" I asked.

"Um, no, not really," she cleared her throat. "It's not like I've watched porn before. Maybe some girls are curious and watch but because of my issues and lack of a boyfriend in the past, I haven't made it a point to explore…" she pointed to the screen in front of her. "This."

"We can turn it off if you want." I attempted to reach around her and take the mouse, but she resisted.

"I'm trying to find something more… specific I guess."

"Okay, search on."

Bella clicked around the site in search of whatever it was that she wanted to see. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, she clicked on a link and a video with the title _Real chemistry and passion, great love scene_. The imaginary light bulb above my head clicked on and was shining brightly.

"I know this is still acting, but I guess I'm interested in something that sort of represents normal," she explained nervously. "Not fifteen million uncomfortable positions or threesomes or whatever was going on in those other clips. I'm curious about the _normal_ stuff two people do. Does that make sense to you?"

"Yeah, I think it does." I slid my arms back around her waist. "Press play."

We sat there together and watched what _appeared_ to be a couple in a bedroom. They started out kissing and slowly the scene unfolded as I imagined it would between an experienced couple who were in love with each other. Soon enough, the female's clothes were off and the man's head was in between her legs. She was writhing around underneath him as he went to town. I wanted to know what exactly I had to do to get that kind of response out of Bella. Of course there was some acting involved, but if Bella responded just half as much as the woman on the screen, I'd be a happy camper. I'd bet she would be too.

Ten minutes later, the clip ended and Bella scrolled down the page to view other suggested material. Upon seeing that the clip was from a company named VivThomas, Bella clicked on another clip from them. I sat silently and watched, Pogo was growing—quite literally—more and more impatient as the minutes ticked by. It seemed as if my brain, or Pogo, or whatever, enjoyed viewing two people pretending to make love just as much as watching two people fuck under the guise that the woman's husband would be home at any moment.

Bella shifted on my lap and I let out a low growl. "Bella, please be careful with Pogo."

"Sorry," she whispered. "That actually wasn't intentional."

Intentional or not, it still made me want to rip my jeans off and free myself from their constricting confines.

I sat with Bella in my arms, horny as hell, while we watched more clips. Bella kept going back to the clips from VivThomas and she must have liked them because she'd watch the entire clip and not click out of it like the others. It was the true meaning of a blessing and a curse.

Finally, Bella didn't click on any other links and in fact, closed out the website. Goodbye naked ladies! She shifted in my lap, turned toward my direction, and then started kissing me. It was a great make out session. Her hands were all over me…and then it turned into something more. My hand was up her shirt and I was groping Righty. I was about to try to take off Bella's shirt, or at least lift it up, when her hand landed on the zipper of my jeans. She squeezed me and I couldn't help but moan in response.

_Release me woman!_

Bella slowly unzipped my jeans and freed Pogo from his prison. Holy shit, it was like she heard my thoughts. The Swans _must_ be mind readers! I had no time to entertain those thoughts as Bella's hand moved over me and I was thrown into sensory overload.

I was such a horny pile of goo it wasn't funny. Bella's hand continued to move over Pogo and I didn't think it could get any better.

Then she whispered in my ear.

"Edward, I want to try something," she said as she nibbled on my earlobe. "Is that okay?"

At that moment, she could have asked me to move to Timbuktu and I would've agreed. Seriously, you do not ask your boyfriend a question when you're getting him off. How many men have agreed to stupid ass things while their women held them literally in the palms of their hands?

I really couldn't think of what she'd want try, but then again I really couldn't think. "Um, yeah," I groaned as her thumb circled around the head of my dick. Much to my dismay Bella let go of Pogo and stood up. Shit, I shouldn't have agreed to anything. I wasn't fucking moving to Timbuktu! No way, no how! Hell, I didn't even know where Timbuktu was or if it was a real place. "Bella." I groaned her name in frustration.

"Lean back and relax," she said, smiling like I had never seen her smile before. "I told you I want to try something."

Groaning, I reluctantly leaned back in my chair. "I want you to keep touching me, not leave." Her eyes darted to my lap and she bit her lip. Bella slowly knelt in front of me.

_Oh my God, Oh my God, Oh my God!_

Bella's tongue darted out from her mouth and made contact with Pogo.

_Oh my God, Oh my God, Oh my God!_

Bella was giving me a blow job.

_Thank you porn!_

It was an enjoyable first experience. What? Did you really expect me to declare it to be fuckin' fantastic? Bella had never done something like that so it wasn't going to be perfect. I got off on it. Was it the best blow job in the world? No. She sucked too hard and then she didn't suck hard enough. Worse yet, there was a time when I wanted her to go faster and she was working on me way too slowly.

She had said she wanted to try something. Try she did. I hoped she wanted to try again. The sooner, the better in my twisted, perverted opinion.

Bella didn't swallow, so there was my mess to clean up. Fooling around was fun, but the bodily fluid junk was annoying as fuck.

"Can we move to my bed so I can play with you?" I waggled my eyebrows at her. "I'd like to experiment and return the favor, if you'd like."

"Um…" Bella sucked on her bottom lip from where she sat on my lap. "It's not dark out and…"

"And I've already seen everything and absolutely loved it," I said. "You could walk around naked all day and I wouldn't complain."

"You are a strange boy."

"Duh." I knew that! "But I'm sure there are others that would agree with me."

It took a bit to convince her to let me return the favor. We sat in my computer chair, making out for a while and I must confess that I was _not_ a perfect gentleman. My hands were all over Bella, groping, massaging, whatever you wanted to call it, my hands were all on Bella like… oh, what did Frank call it? White on rice.

She finally agreed to move over to the bed and I had to contain myself so I wouldn't skip or run in excitement. When we laid down and got back to business, Bella was hesitant to let me remove any of her clothing.

"Yes or no?" I asked while nibbling on neck.

"I want to." She sighed. "I'm just nervous."

"Did I make fun of you last time? Did I laugh? No." I hadn't seen her naked since then. Unfortunately. It was a damn disgrace! "If I remember correctly, I was trying not to drool." Bella bit her lip and stifled a laugh. "We can do other stuff. Or not. Whatever you want."

"Gimme a minute. Can you make sure the door is locked?" Her voice was tense and I feared the end of fooling around was near. I got up and doubled checked the door. Walking ever so slowly back, I laid back down next to her. The two of us laid there together on my bed, Bella on her back with her eyes tightly shut and me on my side watching her curiously. She mumbled intelligibly before opening her eyes and looking at me. "Okay, let's do this."

Shifting closer to her, I moved over and cupped her face. "Are you sure?"

"Yes," she said smiling. "I just had to give myself a little pep talk."

"If you want me to stop or don't like what I'm doing just tell me, okay?"

I went to kiss her, but she stopped me. "Wait, you never said anything about what I did to you. Was it okay? I never… did any of that." She scrunched her nose up nervously.

"I ain't complaining," I laughed. "We can talk about that more later, okay? I want to play with my beautiful girlfriend."

Oh, and play I did! With her help, I got to undress Bella and she was lying naked on my bed next to me and under me. The image of Bella, naked with her legs spread for me, was going to help me get through many a lonely night. I started at her lips and made the gradual progression downward. My hands traveled up and down her body, my fingers rubbed her nipples and moved over her skin. Bella sighed when I took Righty into my mouth and sucked gently. I made sure to pay attention to Lefty before traveling to my final destination—Heaven. Kissing my way down her stomach, my fingers were already playing with Heaven before my mouth caught up with the itinerary for the night. Having only watched what other men did to other women, I wasn't sure how much pressure to use but I assumed I shouldn't be overly rough. Starting out slow, I licked at her skin and found Bella to be incredibly wet and kind of tasty. She gasped and rolled her hips at my actions, her fingers threaded through my hair.

Good to know I was doing something right.

I continued my ministrations, one finger moving in and out of her body while my tongue explored other areas. Remembering the reaction from when I touched her clit, I licked at it and was rewarded with a nose full of pussy and probably a bald spot on the back of my head when Bella arched her hips in my direction and pulled my hair at the same time.

I tried to breathe but it's not quite possible after getting a nose full of pussy. It's almost like when you laugh and emit iced tea out your nose. Things in your throat and nose don't work right until you get everything cleared out and I thought it was an incredibly wrong time to reach for a tissue.

Pushing those thoughts out of my mind, I rubbed my nose with my free hand in a vain attempt to clear it, wondering if I had any hair still attached to my scalp where Bella's hands had been. It was time to get back to some important business—I had done something to Bella that she really seemed to like.

"Edward, do that again," she moaned.

Glancing up, Bella was looking down at me, her lids half closed and one hand clutching a pillow. I raked my tongue across her clit again and was prepared for her bucking bronco hips and moved with her, avoiding a second gush of fluid to my nostrils.

Eventually she told me to stop. Would I ever figure out when and if she came? I thought she did, but I wasn't totally sure. Why did I feel so clueless about this stuff? "No more, Edward, get back up here," she sighed deeply. Taking my time northward, I kissed a trail back up to her neck and then flipped us to our sides.

"You okay?" I asked wearily. "Was it okay?"

Bella snuggled up against me, her right arm slung over my waist. "There were times when I wanted to ask you what the hell you were doing, but overall, yes, it was okay. It was very okay. Thank you."

"You're very welcome." I reached for the covers and regretfully pulled them over us. I needed see-thru blankets. Did they exist? NASA probably invented technology like that. I only covered us because I thought Bella might be cold, not because I didn't want to continue to view her naked body against mine.

I wasn't that much of an idiot.

"Did I do okay with you?" Her voice was muffled against my chest.

"It was kind of like how you said," I explained. "There were times where I wished you were going faster, but you slowed down. It didn't seem to matter to my body in the end if you couldn't tell."

"Okay, next time we tell each other, right?" Her voice was low and I knew she was embarrassed.

"Next time?" I asked. There was going to be a next time? I didn't have a happy dance, but I wanted to do one. "Oh, hell yes."

She laughed and I heard a noise downstairs. "Shit, someone's home!" Bella sat up quickly and my brain took a snap shot of her totally naked sitting on my bed and tucked that shit away for later.

We scrambled quickly to gather her clothes and she ran into the bathroom to freshen up and change. I zipped my pants back up and then straightened the sheets on my bed. Carlisle's voice was slowly coming up the stairs. Unlocking the door, I remembered what I had done to Bella and panicked. I had the residue from her female juices on my face! I couldn't open the door and talk to my father smelling like pussy!

Especially since I wasn't a girl.

I practically ran over to the bathroom and knocked. "Bella!" I whispered loudly. "I need a wet wash cloth!"

Her muffled voice disappointed me. "Hold on a sec."

"I can't, love, Carlisle is on his way upstairs!" I said. "Remember what I did to you?"

"Oh, shit!"

The bathroom door open in a rush and as she flung a wet wash cloth at me, I viewed Bella half undressed. Rubbing my face with the rag, I grabbed the remote for the television and turned it on. Ack! It was still on the scrambled porn channel. Not knowing what was on, I quickly changed the channel to Comedy Central and heard a knock on my door.

_South Park._

On the t.v…. not at my door. That'd be weird.

"Edward?" Carlisle knocked again. "Are you in there? We just wanted to let you know that we're home."

I threw the wash cloth in the hamper across the room and opened the door. "Yeah, I'm here."

Carlisle's eyes widened at the sight of me. "Would Bella also happen to be here?"

"Um, yeah," I said nervously. "She's in the bathroom, why?"

He cleared his throat. "Um, lots of women like to play with men's hair when they're doing things to them, if you get my drift."

_He did not just say that to me. Yes, he did just say that to me. _

"Um, what?" All the blood in my body must not have returned to its proper place quite yet because I wasn't sounding too damn intelligent at the moment.

"You have sex hair, son."

"Oh, shit."

"Yeah, oh shit." He suppressed a laugh. "Are you being safe?"

Why was I always being asked that? "We haven't gone that far. Please don't bring anything up to Bella. She'd be embarrassed and well, I…uh."

"You fear you'd never get any ever again."

"Damn straight."

"I'm down with that." No, seriously, he said that. Carlisle raised his hand and extended his fist in my direction. It looked like a mix between fist bumping and that 'power to the people' deal.

"Dad, don't try so hard," I told him. "You're kind of cool when you're being normal."

"I am?" His voice squeaked like mine had countless times. That's where I got the Peter Brady problem from! "Awesome."

"Yeah, um, can you go now?"

"Okay, okay," he started laughing. "Your mother and I are home now, so keep the noise to a reasonable level."

I wasn't going to tell him that we were already done fooling around or the fact that he knew what we had been doing made my dick want to shrivel up. Instead, I just said "Yeah," and closed the door on him.

_Parents!_

_Saturday, February 21__st__, 2009_

"Aren't you a little old for a birthday party?"

"Ah, shut it, Marcie." Emmett cut the plastic on a disposable table cloth, unwrapped it and threw the other end to me. We straightened it so it'd look all neat and shit. "It's my last big hurrah." Emmett shrugged. "I don't really care to be honest. Mom wanted to do this for me. It's a good excuse to get the family together, right?"

"Good point."

It was kind of weird how Emmett and I were both born on the twentieth of our respective birth months. Alice was left out of the birthday club because she was born on the seventh of September. Oddly enough, Esme's birthday was two days after Emmett's on the twenty-second.

An hour later, Emmett's party was in full swing. John and Harold arrived earlier in the week and I thought they were complete opposites—John seemed to be funny like Frank while Harold was serious. Maybe they balanced each other out. Frank and Irene had arrived the day before as did Aunt Lisa and her husband whose name I currently couldn't remember. Lisa was short and pretty with dark hair. Several times I saw her husband—oh, crap, his name was Thomas!—looking down at her affectionately while her attention was elsewhere.

Since they had been nice to me and no longer grated on Emmett's nerves, he invited Mike and Angie to the party. Angie handed Emmett a gift and Mike shuffled his feet like an idiot. "Emmett, I had no idea what to get for a guy who can buy anything he wants because he has more money than me," he managed to spit out. "You and Rose come by the bowling alley sometime and it's on me."

"Awesome, thanks Mike." Emmett grinned. Mike and Angie went to get a drink and Emmett lowered his voice. "I don't know how to bowl."

"I didn't either," I said. "Take Rose and have some fun for an afternoon."

Shrugging his shoulders, his eyes darted to Rose across the room before returning to me. "When you put it that way, why the hell not?" His hands felt up the present Angie had given to him. "Mmm, it feels like a picture frame."

"What kind of picture would she give you?" I asked. "She's not _that_ kind of girl and she doesn't have a death wish."

"I'm sure it's not a naked picture of her! Not that I'd mind, but that's not Angie's style, right?" Emmett whispered and I shook my head negatively. "Oh, hey, she takes photography in a different period than us. She took a picture of me and Rose one time. Do you think that could be it?"

"I'd say it's highly probable."

Emmett put the present on the table with the others. "That's cool. It's a thoughtful gift on her part."

I mingled, taking the time to talk to my relatives. Aunt Lisa still insisted that I visit her in Vegas and that she'd sneak me into a Casino. I really didn't want an arrest record at my age. Or any age for that matter.

Lisa and Thomas kept whispering to each other and it made me wonder what was up between the two of them. It wasn't the kind of whispering you do when you're enamored with someone. It's was more of the secret keeping kind of deal.

"Aunt Lisa, what's up?" I asked. "You and Thomas are kind of… nervous or something. What's with the whispering? Is something wrong?"

Thomas glanced at Lisa, another look of pure adoration on his face, before speaking. "We'd hate to steal attention away from Emmett, but we have an announcement to make."

"I don't think Emmett would really care."

Lisa motioned for Emmett and he came over. She whispered something to him and then he went upstairs. "He's getting his laptop. We want Shannon to hear this too."

I had no idea what on earth was going on. That feeling was nothing new. I had been feeling quite clueless lately. Emmett came back downstairs and set up his laptop in front of Lisa. We waited until Skype loaded and Shannon answered the video call from her end down in Florida. Emmett managed to get everyone's attention and then all eyes were on Lisa and Thomas.

"We have something to tell everyone." Lisa said. "Only Mom and Dad know part of this because we wanted to wait to make sure everything was okay first."

Thomas took Lisa's hand in his. "And now we know everything is okay."

"For God's sake, what the hell are you talking about, Lisa?" Shannon's voice echoed from the computer speakers.

Lisa smiled and told her sister to shut up and then continued. "I had an ultra sound last week."

Esme's jaw dropped and Shannon shrieked. "You're pregnant?"

"Nineteen weeks." Lisa supplied. "I'm having a boy."

Thomas's arms reached around Lisa's waist, encircling her and rubbing her belly. "We're going to name him Thomas Franklin." No wonder he had been looking at her all googly eyed. She was going to be popping out his kid. That must do something to a man.

There was a round of congratulations from everyone. I was going to be able to see one of my cousins grow up. Hopefully this one wouldn't have a crush on Emmett.

Frank and Irene reminded me that I could visit them in California whenever I wanted. John sat down next to Irene and joined in our conversation. "Do you really think I'm going to tell you to visit us in Vermont?" Uncle John asked. "It's pretty damn beautiful in the fall, but much like Washington, it can be cold."

"At least I wouldn't have to bring a different wardrobe!"

"Well, when you put it that way, you can feel free to swing on by sometime."

Not that I'd have anything against visiting Vermont since I hadn't been there before. Maybe when Emmett and I traveled in the summer we could visit each of our relatives together. I'd feel less insecure being around them if he was there with me.

When Emmett opened Angie's gift, we learned it was a picture but much better than the one he expected. The thick black frame was divided with two openings. In the left side of the frame was a picture of Emmett and Rose when they were around five years old. We learned that Esme had given Angie the colorized version to borrow and she had converted a copy of it into black and white. In the picture Emmett and Rose were looking at each other with big smiles on their faces, a scene of innocence. In the other half of the frame was a candid picture of them that Angie had managed to take at school without either of them noticing. They were in a similar pose, facing each other and smiling at one another, maybe not quite as innocent. On the bottom of the frame Angie had attached white block letters that spelled out the phrase "Meant to be."

"Aw, Ang, I love it!" Emmett practically beamed. "Rosie, come see this!"

I wasn't sure who liked Emmett's present better after Rose viewed it because she squealed and crap over the gift almost as much as Emmett did. If you had asked me earlier in the day what the most unexpected thing was going to be that day, I wouldn't have known how to answer. For a little while, the answer to that question was that our friendship with Angie, and even Mike, was pretty much cemented that day.

Eyeing the rest of Emmett's presents, I nudged Jasper next to me. At first he was confused and didn't want to leave Alice, but then he remembered our plan. We left our respective places on the couch and headed into the kitchen. Digging through a cabinet, I pulled out a bag and Jasper and I hung back from the rest of the family as they watched Emmett open his last gift. Lifting the bag onto his lap, he checked the tag for any clues, but found none. He searched the bag for a card, but also came up empty. Removing a rectangular box, he unwrapped it and smiled when he viewed his gift.

He searched the crowd and found me and Jasper. I held up Bumblebee, still in his box and in his car form. Next to me, Jasper held up Megatron. Emmett had a huge ass grin on his face as he held up a truck otherwise known as Optimus Prime.

"Oh, for Christ's sake, you three are flashing back to your childhood, aren't you?" Alice quipped. "Edward, you got him a _toy_ for his birthday?"

Well, at least it wasn't a sex toy, right? "It's _his_ birthday and I'll get him what he wants, thank you very much, Sis!"

Irene put a comforting arm around Alice. "Honey, even when they grow up to be men, remember, they're still boys at heart."

Emmett thanked everyone for their gifts and a half an hour later we managed to sneak away up to his room. On the other side of his door Emmett had posted a sign that read, "Do Not Disturb. No Girls." In smaller writing underneath it said, "You can come back later Rose!" The three of us barricaded ourselves inside and made a fort of four stolen chairs from the kitchen and two blankets. Under the cramped interior, we were hunched over while we played with Emmett's new toys, a flash light shining upward from each of our laps.

At first I had no fucking clue what to get Emmett for his birthday. I had the same problem as Mike—what do you get someone that can afford anything they damn well want? It had been hard to surprise him back at Christmas, but somehow I had managed to and wasn't too damn sure I could do it again.

"Why are these so hard to transform now?" Emmett asked as he struggled to change Optimus.

Jasper's tongue was poking halfway out of his mouth as he concentrated. "They were so much easier, not to mention smaller, when we were kids."

"They were the size of matchbox cars, right?" I asked stupidly. They both dropped their attention from the Transformers and stared at me. "What? I never had Transformers when I was younger."

"Damn," Emmett said. "You _were_ deprived."

Before I could tell Emmett to shut the fuck up, we froze when there was a knock on the door. "The jig is up!" Jasper whispered and turned off his flashlight. "They found us!"

"Boys?" Esme's voice came from the hallway. "Are you in there?"

"Shut up and ignore her!" Emmett instructed us. "It's my party and… well, I'll play with my new toys if I want to!"

"At least you're not playing with yourself." I muttered as Jasper turned his flashlight back on.

My brother chuckled. "Later."

"Emmett!" Esme said. "We're going to cut the cake soon!"

"Did Esme make the cake?" Jasper asked. "I love Esme's cake."

I nodded. "Bella helped. The icing is kick ass. I got to lick a beater."

The pounding on the door became louder. "Boys! I need the kitchen chairs!"

Someone called Esme from downstairs and without saying another word to us, she stopped and left. I found that to be a bit odd. It wasn't like Esme to just give up so easily. The three of us sat there, listening for clues. There seemed to be a lot of commotion downstairs.

And then we heard Carlisle screaming.

Although his words weren't clear, he had to have been screaming loud as hell if we could hear him. Emmett's room faced the back of the house and Carlisle's voice was coming from the front. Carlisle was always so cool and collected. What would have set him off so badly? The three of us jumped up, sending the chairs and blankets tumbling backwards and onto the floor, Transformers forgotten. We ran down the stairs, Emmett in the lead, and when we finally reached the kitchen we found it empty and the front door thrown open.

The three of us continued to travel toward the door in a cluster until we reached it and went through one by one. Everyone was outside in the cold, their warm breath creating a cold fog in the February air.

We rushed forward to Esme and viewed Carlisle screaming at a man on the front yard. "Get out of here!" He yelled angrily. "We don't want you here and tell her to go to hell!"

I eyed the man Carlisle was yelling at. He was shorter than me with long blonde hair that was pulled back neatly into a pony tail and I could only guess his age as somewhere in the mid-thirties or so. The man was wearing formal clothing—a white button up shirt and black pants with a matching tie and suit jacket. The expression on his face creeped me the hell out.

It creeped me out even more when his soulless eyes landed on me and an insincere smile spread across his thin lips.

"You must be Master Anthony," he said with a smirk.

"Shut up and don't speak to him!" Carlisle screamed. Esme was at his side and attempting to pull him back into the house.

Emmett went over to our parents and tried to get them both into the house. The man on the lawn continued to stare at me, right through me. I felt Bella at my side and watched as Carlisle, in a fit of anger, tried to push Emmett away and almost succeeded in knocking over Esme. Surprised by his actions, Emmett caught Esme and removed her out of harm's way and Carlisle's aim. Tony stepped in between Carlisle and the creepy man while Thomas and Frank stood behind Carlisle. Together the three of them tried to talk to Carlisle, but his gaze was concentrated on the formally dressed man on the other side of his brother.

"Master Anthony," the man said in my direction, taking a step forward before Tony reached out and pushed him back with the palm of his hand.

"I don't think so, James." So that was his name. "Go back from where ever you came from before we call the authorities," Tony said sternly. "And they will forcibly remove you."

"I am only here to deliver a message to Master Anthony," James never broke eye contact with me. Bella squeeze my hand as Alice, Jasper, and Rose flanked my left side.

Carlisle tried to talk over James' voice, angrily telling him to leave. His face was red, his stance wide and defensive. I had never seen him so furious. His words were muffled and somehow pushed to the background as James spoke and his message hit home, sending it straight to the top of the list for the most unexpected thing on that day, surpassing Mike and Angie's new friendship.

"Miss Camilla wants to meet you, Master Anthony," James said without any emotion. "Your grandmother would like to make your acquaintance."

* * *

**A/N:** And cue "Dun, dun, dun, dunnnnnn!" like the old soaps used to! Like it? Let me know!


	43. Emotional Rollercoaster

**A/N:** Duuuuuuudes! Don't even start with me on how long it's been! I know it's been practically forever. Major, major writer's block on this chapter. I had no idea where I wanted to go or how I wanted this to end so I just avoided it. Not a good idea!

Two things - I wrote a one shot entitled _Café Crushes_ for the "30 Days of Emmett" featuring Emmett and Rose. I also posted a crack-like one shot called _Every Kiss Begins with Kay_ featuring Rose and Alice. It's a must read for anyone that hates those Kay Jeweler commercials and is filled with Nathan Fillion/Castle/Firefly and Dancing with the Stars references. They're both posted here on so check out my profile after you're done with this chapter for the links! ;)

Oh, where the hell have all of you been coming from? I've been getting a TON of alerts lately! _Legacy_ was featured in the Top 100 at **A Darker Twilight** (spot #69, hehehe) but I can't see how all the new readers found me by that list. So, like all you new peeps - say something, ok? I don't bite! I love hearing from my readers even if you just quote me a favorite line. You don't have to write 10,000 words back to me.

Many thanks to my new beta, hmonster4, and all my pre-readers (Lisa, Heather, Kerry, Carrie, and Barb) for looking over this mess.

Without further ado... **DISCLAIMER:** I'm not either of them, don't claim to be either... just playing with her characters and was inspired by the other one's storyline. And... ACTION!

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**Chapter 43: Emotional Rollercoaster **

_Saturday, February 21__st__, 2009_

"_Your grandmother would like to make your acquaintance."_

James's voice echoed in my head. Then too many things started to happen at once. Bella squeezed my hand. I glanced at Emmett in the distance, and caught him nodding at Jasper, who then turned in my direction and attempted to push me toward the house. I dug my feet firmly in, unwilling to leave the rest of my family.

"Jasper...help!" The two of us turned our attention toward Alice, who was leaning against Rose for support. Before Jasper could process Alice's words, her body slumped and Mike stepped in by awkwardly wrapping his arms around her and easing Alice to the ground. Jasper instantly left my side and I was right behind him as we both rushed to Alice, shoving Mike out of the way.

"Alice, honey, what's wrong? Is it a panic attack?" Jasper asked urgently. She gasped for air and clutched at her chest, nodding in response. Alice reached out for Jasper, grabbing onto his shirt and fisting it in her hand. "I'm gonna get her out of here, Edward."

Jasper easily lifted Alice into his arms and carried her inside the house, Irene and Aunt Lisa trailing behind him. They'd both trained as nurses, so I knew they would take care of her until Carlisle and Tony calmed down.

"Thanks for not letting Alice fall," I told Mike. "I appreciate it."

"I couldn't let her get hurt." He shook his head. Angie was standing at his side. They both appeared bewildered at what was happening. "I don't know what's going on, but it seems like it's family related. Do you think should we leave? Is your father going to be okay?"

Carlisle still stood between Tony and James, oblivious to what was happening behind him, his face red with fury. I imaged that the veins of his neck were sticking out, but I was too far away to know for sure. My only thought at that moment was that I didn't want him to have a heart attack. Not knowing what Carlisle, Tony, or even James were capable of, I thought it'd be better if Mike didn't leave quite yet since his car was parked nearby. There was no need to accidently add someone being run over in our driveway to the now growing list of unexpected occurrences today.

"Let's go check on Alice," I replied. James continued to glare in my direction; his stare unwavering even as Carlisle continued to scream at him to leave. "Rose, I don't think I should get closer than I am. Can you get Emmett's attention and have him get Esme inside?"

Rose nodded in response. "I'm on it!" Turning quickly, she headed toward Emmett as I took one last look in James' direction. It bore repeating—the guy was creepy. Breaking eye contact with him, I led Mike and Angie into the house.

I had wondered where Bella had gone to, and received an answer when I stepped inside the house. She was on the phone, her hand placed over the receiver. I asked Mike and Angie to hang out in the back room and went over to her. "What's going on?"

"I'm calling Charlie," she replied. "I think he should come over. I'm worried Carlisle is going to do something stupid if James doesn't leave."

While Bella was on the phone, I checked to see how Alice was doing. Jasper had placed her on the couch, and Lisa was currently taking her pulse. Irene was kneeling on the floor next to Alice's head, murmuring quietly about her breathing while Jasper was anxiously standing behind the couch, watching in case he was needed, but not wanting to get in the way. I took a dishtowel from a drawer and wet it with cool water, wringing it out before taking it over to Alice. Handing it to Irene, I stood behind the couch with Jasper as Irene wiped Alice's forehead of sweat.

Alice glanced up at me, gasping as she struggled to speak. "Dad?"

Esme burst through the front door with Rose hot on her heels and headed toward us. "Emmett can concentrate on getting Carlisle in the house. Don't worry about anything except calming yourself down." I hoped my words sounded more convincing to her than they did to me.

"Yeah, honey, you need to calm down and try to breathe regularly," Jasper said. "Is the room still spinning?"

"No." She was lying down, so the lack of a spinning room could be helped by being horizontal. "Spotty vision."

It was still hard for Alice to breathe, so we didn't ask anything else. Irene moved so Esme could take her place, and she came to stand between Jasper and me. Still keeping a watchful eye on her granddaughter, Irene firmly placed one of her hands on each of our shoulders. "Has Lisa told you that she's been going back to school to be a doctor?" My eyes widened as I observed my aunt taking care of my sister. Jasper and I both shook our heads. "She didn't, huh? Don't you worry; she knows what she's doing. A few more tests and rounds at the hospital and she can take tack on 'doctor' before her first name."

"Impressive," I muttered.

Jasper leaned over the couch and took Alice's hand in his. "Close your eyes and think of a nice warm beach," he instructed her. "That's your happy place, remember? You're sitting in a beach chair and it's a perfect seventy-five degrees out. There's a cool breeze and you're sipping on a piña colada."

"That piña colada better be alcohol free if you're underage in your happy place," Esme muttered. Alice chuckled and squeezed Esme's hand.

"Her pulse is getting back to normal," Lisa said. "Alice, you're going to be okay. Just continue to breathe. Inhale through your nose and exhale out through your mouth."

Closing her eyes, Alice inhaled deeply, exhaled and opened her eyes. "Am I…exhaling through… my feet or something?"

Lisa laughed. "Oh, shush you."

In the distance I heard a car door slam, and some long ass seconds later an engine started, making its way down the driveway and away from the house. I hoped it was James who'd left. Staring at the door, I wished Carlisle and the others would come inside. I wanted to will the damn door to open and have him walk through so I knew he was okay. Another car engine came down the driveway, this time in a hurry. A few minutes later the front door opened. Carlisle was trapped in between a sea of men who directed him straight downstairs to the basement. Charlie had arrived, counted among the men, but trailing behind them. He was ready if he was needed, but hung back because he probably didn't know what to do for anyone.

Alice had asked for Carlisle, but I didn't think it was best for her to see him in his current state. He was disheveled and still upset. She could start to worry and have a relapse before she had even technically gotten better. I didn't know what to do. I couldn't help my sister. I couldn't help my father. Instead, I went into the back room and found Mike and Angie huddled together, whispering. Great. There went those friendships. They were probably trying to figure out what to say to the other kids in school.

When Mike spotted me he stopped mid-sentence and nudged Angie. "I was just asking Angie if she thought it was a good time to try to sneak out so your family can have its privacy."

"Yeah, um," I nervously ran my fingers through my hair. "Everyone's inside so you won't accidently run anyone over when you're leaving."

Angie's gazed traveled back and forth between me and Mike as she spoke. "We don't know what's going on, but we're sorry to see your father is so upset. We don't want to be in the way. Call us if you need us for anything, okay?"

Mike's eyes went big for a second, but then he nodded in agreement. "Yeah, you know, call us if you need anything? Or just need to get away if stuff is still hairy, or whatever, right man?"

Since I'd never had friends before, I wasn't sure if I could trust what they were saying. Were they being truthful? Or did they want the dirt to dish out to my classmates on Monday morning?

"Is Alice better? Will she be okay?" Angie asked with concern. "Is that why she had to go to the hospital from gym class?"

"She has panic attacks, and she's doing much better now, thanks." I wasn't totally sure if I should've disclosed her medical happenings, but I thought it'd be better than the entire school thinking she was pregnant or something.

Angie gave me a noncommittal sideways hug, and Mike patted me on the back. I led them out through the living room and to the front door. "Thanks for understanding about leaving so soon."

"It's family stuff and we're in the way," Mike said.

"I hope Emmett had a good birthday before… you know… this all happened." Angie didn't know where to look, moving her eyes between me, Mike, and the ground.

I thought Emmett had been having a great birthday. We were having a blast, acting like kids up in his room playing with his new Transformers before James' arrival. I thanked them both for coming and wondered if I'd ever see them outside of school ever again.

"Edward?" Watching Mike's car leave, I barely registered my name being called. I was standing in the doorway, the cold air blowing past me, into the house. My eyes scanned the trees, searching for things unknown. Would James turn around and stalk the house? He'd delivered my grandmother's message, but would he try to forcibly take me to see her? "Edward?" I jumped when a hand made contact with my shoulder.

"Come on inside." Bella tugged on my arm. "It's cold out there.'

Snapping out of my daze, I backed my way into the house and closed the door behind me. "I don't know what to do and who to do it for."

"It seems like most of the guys except Jasper are downstairs," Bella stated, quite the obvious after I looked around the room and seeing only the females. "Why don't you go downstairs and join them? I'll get you if we need you."

I agreed, going downstairs tentatively. The stairs creaked as I made my way down into the basement. They knew I was coming, but it didn't seem to change what was going on down there. Tony had Carlisle in a corner talking to him in hushed tones. I couldn't make out what they were saying, and I knew we weren't supposed to actually hear them. Making my way over to Emmett, I nudged him in the arm to get his attention.

"Hey, bro," Emmett nodded at me. "How's Alice?"

"Slowly calming down," I informed him. "Irene and Lisa are looking after her."

"What's wrong with Alice?" We whipped our heads around at the sound of Carlisle's voice from the corner. "Did she have another panic attack?"

He tried to walk forward, but Tony held him back. "I know you want to go to your daughter but you're not ready yet."

Carlisle stared at me, and I could see the worry in his eyes. "Her vision is still spotty but Lisa said her pulse is returning to normal. She asked about you, but I have to agree with Tony. I think it'd upset her more if she saw you right now."

"Seeing James was almost as bad as seeing my own mother," he said. "I can't believe she sent her little _factotum_ here. Today of all days. I'm sorry Emmett."

"Dad, I don't blame you and really, the party was almost over anyway." Emmett shrugged. I wasn't sure if he was really upset that his party ended early or not. My brother could be a hard read when he wanted to be. "I was just worried about you doing something stupid."

"To be honest, I was more worried about you having a heart attack more than anything," I admitted.

"I'm sorry if I scared you," Carlisle apologized. "I'm sorry you had to see what that witch does to me."

"Why don't I go meet her so I can tell her off, and to stick it where the sun don't shine?" I felt an odd compulsion to sensor myself in front of my family members. What I really felt like doing was actually telling Camilla to fuck off and leave us all the fuck alone.

Carlisle tried to step forward but Tony held him back. "No!"

Thomas, previously quiet, spoke up. "Edward has a point, maybe if he went and told Camilla that he didn't want anything to do with her—"

"No!" Carlisle cut him off.

"Carlisle, you need to calm the hell down," Frank reminded him. "I'm sure Alice is wondering how you are, and would like to see you with her own two eyes. If you go upstairs acting like you are now, you're just going to send her into another panic attack!"

"Grandpa is right," Emmett said. "I know you don't want that."

Carlisle turned and paced back into the corner. "No, I don't."

I got Emmett's attention, and crooked a finger at him to come closer. Obeying, he took a step sideways and leaned down toward me. Whispering in his ear, I planted a suggestion regarding Carlisle. He shrugged and glanced at our father. "Couldn't hurt," he muttered. "I'll go get 'em."

We waited as Emmett ran upstairs. Carlisle was still too easily agitated to go anywhere near Alice, and he needed to calm down more before he saw her. The silence seemed to drag on for an eternity before Emmett came back downstairs. He walked over to Tony, and got his attention before dragging him away from Carlisle.

"Look, there's this thing we do when we're pissed and need to work off some steam," he started to explain, his voice low. "Actually, Jasper thought of it a few years ago and I showed it to Edward back in December. Upstairs in the back room you'll find a box filled with a large set of dishes."

"Dishes?" Tony asked. "What are we supposed to with a box of dishes? Find a creek out back to wash them in?"

"Break 'em," I supplied. "Fling 'em against a tree as hard as you can. That's why Emmett got me a set of dishes for Christmas."

Tony stared at Emmett and smiled, suppressing laughter. "That's a damn brilliant idea. And here I thought you were trying to play house for Edward and Bella."

"I'm seventeen! I'm not ready to be married to the woman yet!" I rolled my eyes and lowered my voice. "I'm going to donate the dishes to Carlisle. I don't think me or Emmett should be there though. You take him. You understand him better than we do. You take him and help him handle this."

Tony nodded in agreement. "I think he'd be embarrassed or ashamed so I'll go with him. I'll take him out through the back room. Can you get our jackets for us?"

Frank and Thomas led the way upstairs, followed by Carlisle, who Tony steered in the opposite direction he really wanted to go in. John and Harold were lost somewhere in the mix, and Charlie lagged behind the rest of us, observing in his silent manner. Emmett and I grabbed their jackets. They bundled up and Carlisle turned to looked at me and Emmett before he left.

"Go on, Dad, you need to do this," Emmett said as he opened the sliding glass door. "We'll be here waiting for you."

Carlisle nodded, and Tony urged him outside. Helpless to do anything, I watched as the door closed behind them. "I remember what I was like when I smashed the dishes up on Cullen Mountain," I said. "I don't think I want to see Carlisle like that."

"I would've gone if I had to, but I'm glad Tony is here to go with him instead." Emmett sighed and sat down on the couch. "I think that's something they need to do together."

Charlie stepped forward and finally spoke. "James showed up but didn't do anything? I can't arrest him if all he did was try to speak to Edward."

"I was up in my room with Jasper and Edward when we heard screaming from the front of the house," Emmett said. "We ran downstairs and found everyone outside on the lawn, and my father was screaming at a man I'd never seen before. I don't know if James did anything in particular to provoke him. I've never seen Dad so mad before."

"I've only seen him that upset and angry one other time." A chill went down my spine before Frank even finished his sentence. "I don't think it takes a rocket scientist to know when that was."

"When I was taken?" Somehow I already knew the answer, but felt compelled to ask for confirmation.

"Yeah." Frank nodded, offering no other explanation—there didn't need to be any. My father had shown extreme anger twice in his life, and although his mother had been the main reason, I also had been involved both times. That didn't make me feel all that great.

I stood nearby and listened as John informed Charlie that he'd been speaking to Carlisle before his big blow up. They had been near a window that faced the front of the house when they heard a car pull up. Wondering who it could be, Carlisle moved the curtain and when James stepped out, Carlisle cursed and ran outside. John wasn't able to stop him from rushing out the front door and the sound of Carlisle's voice alerted everyone else to what was going on.

James had played his hand well by not provoking Carlisle in a physical manner. His mere presence was enough to send Carlisle into a rage, which wasn't enough of a reason for Carlisle to press charges. Charlie couldn't even arrest him for trespassing, because there were no signs posted on the property.

"What the hell could my grandmother even want with me?" I wondered aloud, plopping down on the couch next to Emmett. "She had me kidnapped, and kept me from my family. What more could she do to us?"

"Camilla is never to be underestimated," Emmett turned to me. "At least that's what I've heard Dad say the few times I've heard him talk about her."

"I don't care about the money that's supposed to be mine," I said. "She can keep it for all I care."

Truthfully, I didn't care. I grew up without money, not knowing the great comforts of life. Without knowing exactly how much money was earmarked for me, I wondered why it was so important for Camilla to keep my share. Hadn't she accumulated enough money of her own over the years? Of course, I had no idea if my grandmother's request was just about money or if there was something more to it.

"What is Grandmother up to?" Emmett asked thoughtfully, a far off expression on his face as he stared out the sliding glass door.

I had no clue, but I was now determined to find out. I needed to visit my grandmother and find out her side of the story. I knew there was a big possibility that she'd lied through her probable fake, but extremely expensive teeth, but I felt the need to hear the reasoning behind my kidnapping from her. I needed confirmation that what Peter had told me was true - that the father I had known for the first seventeen years of my life kept me from my real family because he thought he was protecting me. I needed to hear it with my own ears, from the woman who had orchestrated everything.

I needed to visit my grandmother. I needed to see the wicked witch.

I knew that I couldn't bring up the subject after Carlisle and Tony came back from their trek in the woods. While he'd calmed down some, Carlisle was still agitated, and I didn't want to set him off in again. He needed to go see Alice, and if I brought up visiting Camilla he'd get upset again. I didn't have another set of dishes for him to break. It would have been selfish and stupid of me to upset him and keep him away from her.

Carlisle finally calmed down enough to go and check on Alice. She was happy to see him and as he knelt down by her, I saw relief all over Esme's face.

"Alice, how are you feeling?" Carlisle asked.

"Sick to my stomach," she replied, reaching out for his hand to hold on to him. I didn't know if it was my imagination, but I thought Alice perked up a bit with Carlisle at her side. "No dizziness and there's only a few annoying spots in my vision."

"I'm sorry, honey." His head hung, as if in shame. I assumed he was trying to take Alice's pulse as he reached for her wrist.

"It wasn't your fault, Dad." Alice pulled free from his grasp and wrapped her fingers around his. "You didn't make me feel this way. It was the stupid panic attack. I hate that I get them, but I can't be kept in a cage or holed up in a room in hopes that the stupid attacks will stay away."

Carlisle tightened his hold on her hand as he leaned over to place a kiss on her forehead. Shifting, he wrapped his other arm around her, awkwardly hugging her. His face was buried in her shoulder, his words muffled but loud enough to hear. "I'm still sorry," he rasped out. "I never meant to hurt you, unintentionally or not."

While I tried to force down the lump in my throat, Lisa filled Carlisle in about Alice's vital signs. Although I was sure he was confident in his sister-in-law's skills, he double checked everything anyway.

I hated that a family event had been marred by my grandmother, and she wasn't even in the vicinity. She had already done so much damage, and I was tired of her winning. It reinforced my need to meet with her. Partially afraid that Peter had been lying to me, I needed confirmation that this entire mess was indeed her fault.

Esme's birthday was the day after Emmett's party. The girls went to a salon and got their fingers and toes all painted and crap. Whatever females have done at a salon they had done. The men—which, yes, included me—were in the kitchen preparing dinner when Esme's car pulled into the garage.

"Now, listen up!" Carlisle announced to no one in particular. "The girls are going to come in, and they are going to be dolled up. Either we're not going to notice a damn difference in them or their make-up could look hideously over done. Don't be an idiot and point that out! You compliment them and tell them that they look nice. Got it?"

There were mumbles and grumbles of "yups" and "gotcha's" before the girls started filing into the kitchen from the garage. Personally, I was glad they weren't hideously over done. I wasn't sure if I could fake that reaction. Bella had her nails done. She said it was a "French manicure," whatever that was. Most of her nail looked kind of pinkish while the ends were white.

French manicure, French kissing, French fries, French salad dressing. I could only pick French kissing out of a line up. I was a guy, what the hell did I know about manicures?

"It looks, um, pretty I guess," I said. "Did you have anything else done?"

Bella kissed my cheek. "I got my hair cut and my toe nails match my finger nails."

I looked at her hair but couldn't tell the difference from when I'd last seen her. In an attempt not to get my ass kicked, I tried to change the subject. "Did you have fun with the girls?"

"Yes, I did." Bella sniffed the air. "What's cooking?"

"Dinner," I supplied. "We all collaborated on dinner for Esme."

"All of you?" Bella appeared worried. One of her eyebrows nearly reached her hairline.

I nodded. "Yes, all of us. Do you doubt our lack of skill in the kitchen?"

Bella smiled and a giggle escaped. "I'm getting more confident in your cooking skills. I'm not too confident with the other guys in the kitchen." As she wrapped an arm around my waist, she winked at me.

I squeezed her closer to me. "I was the one who created the menu, and I supervised everything like Carlisle requested, so 'we wouldn't give the girls, and ourselves, food poisoning,' as he so delicately put it."

I wasn't quite sure why, but Bella laughed hysterically at my words. Once she caught her breath, she went into the living room with the others until dinner was done. In the end, our efforts were a success, and no one ended up with food poisoning (that I know of) and the girls seemed to enjoy their meal.

I'd been nervous about what to get Esme for her birthday. Out of ideas, I couldn't think of anything sentimental or personal to get for her. To be honest, it kind of made me feel like shit - like I was letting her down. And to a point, even myself.

I waited until no one else was around to give Esme her present, so we could talk. Bella had gone home and slowly, one by one, everyone else went upstairs. Frank and Irene were using the guest room, while Lisa, Thomas, John and Harold were camping out in Alice's room on air mattresses. I was sitting on the couch in the living room with my parents, watching a movie, the sounds from obnoxiously loud music playing in Emmett's room filtered down to us. It made me wonder if he and Rose were fooling around and they were trying to cover up any noises they might've been making.

_Ack! I do not need to think about my brother messin' around with his girlfriend. _

Carlisle yawned, covering his mouth with one hand and spoke to Esme, "I'm going to head upstairs, are you going to join me?"

_Oh, ew, my mind didn't want to wander into what that really meant. Shit. Too late. It went there._

My parents still had sex. Maybe I could bash my head against the fridge a few times and I'd forget.

"Um, Esme, could I talk to you before you went upstairs?"

Esme turned to Carlisle and kissed his cheek. "I'll be up in a few minutes, okay?"

"Don't keep her too long, huh?" Carlisle glanced over her shoulder to me and kissed her quickly. "See you in a few."

He left, leaving the two of us alone in the living room. When Carlisle reached the second floor I heard him knock on Emmett's door. "Turn it down!" His request was immediately granted and the music went silent.

"Is something wrong?" Esme asked.

"Nothing that removing my memory for the last two minutes wouldn't cure," I admitted.

Esme chuckled unevenly. "I don't think I can help you with that. What's up?"

"Yeah." Shifting on the couch, I removed an envelope from underneath the cushion I sat on. "I didn't know what to get you for your birthday. Christmas was just two months ago and I was lucky that I surprised you then." I handed her the envelope.

"Edward, you didn't have to get me anything." She flipped over the envelope, and slowly slid a fingernail under the seal. Sliding the card out, Esme opened it, and the gift certificate I had bought fell into her lap.

Yeah, I went that route. A fuckin' gift certificate. I even asked for Bella's help but between the two of us, we hadn't come up with any good ideas for a gift so I settled on getting Esme a gift certificate for the salon she liked to frequent.

She read the card and sniffed, pushing back a piece of hair behind her ear. "Thank you, Edward. That was very thoughtful of you."

"I'm glad you like it… I uh, you know, didn't know what to get you."

"The card was very nice too." Esme had tears in her eyes. "You, here and willing to talk to me is pretty much my birthday gift for the next several years."

"Thanks for being patient with me," I said. "I know I haven't been easy to deal with."

"Can I have a hug before I go upstairs?" she asked timidly.

"Yeah, I think I can do that." We both stood and I slid my arms around her, embracing my mother. She patted my back and sighed.

"Thank you for giving me a second chance when I screwed up," she whispered in my ear. "I'm just happy to have you back where you belong."

Esme squeezed me tightly before letting go. "Good night, Edward. Thank you again for the certificate."

I kissed her cheek and watched her walk away. Something caught my eye and caused me to glance up at the second floor. I shouldn't have been surprised at what I saw. Carlisle was pressed against the wall, half hidden so he could listen into our conversation.

I could only gather that he wanted to make sure everything was okay between the two of us. Maybe I had alarmed him when I asked to speak to her without him around. Either way, it was a good thing he hadn't gone into the spy business. He would have failed miserably.

_Saturday March 7__th__, 2009_

Much to my surprise, Mike and Angela hadn't said anything to anyone at school. They continued to talk to me and there were no whispers along the hallways about what had happened at Emmett's birthday party. I was still leery on letting them completely into my life, but at this point, I knew I could trust them on a day to day basis.

I waited, putting off talking with Carlisle for two weeks. It was a new month and I hoped it would give Carlisle a new attitude regarding a meeting with Camilla. What a lame ass reasoning and excuse on my part. Whether it be February, March, or December, I knew Carlisle would feel the same way about his mother. Though some part of him hated the fact that he disliked his own mother so much, he'd lived in the same house and knew what she was capable of, because he had experienced her abuse first hand.

Sometimes I wondered how he had managed to be such a great Dad to us, and then I would go back to our conversation at Lake Crescent. I had a feeling that Carlisle fought hard not to become like his parents and threw himself into being the best father he could be. He didn't want to—and refused to—continue the cycle of abuse.

As I approached his study, I wondered if this was how parents ever felt how I did when they talked to their kids about sex or illegal drug use. My hands were clammy and my stomach was twisted into knots. Sweat was beginning to bead at my forehead. I wasn't even in the same room with Carlisle, and I was ready to hyperventilate and curl up in the fetal position like Alice in defeat. Wiping at my forehead with the back of my hand, I exhaled loudly and then knocked on the door.

"Come in," my father's voice was faint through the thick door. Turning the knob, I slowly pushed open the only divider between us. I wanted to puke on my shoes. "Are you okay, Edward?"

I glanced up to see Carlisle looking at me which concern. Instead of walking into his study like I normally did, I leaned my back against the door and stared at the floor. "I wanted to talk to you about something."

"Oh, my… Bella isn't pregnant, is she?"

My head snapped up quickly, and I tried not to stutter. "How did you come to _that_ conclusion?"

Carlisle shrugged. "There is a nervous teenage boy in front of me, who looks like he's going to throw up at any moment, and not meeting me in the eye," he said. "It's your body language."

"You will be happy to know that Bella is not pregnant," I announced firmly. "She can't be with what we've been doing." I mentally slapped myself. He did not need to know what Bella and I do in private.

"I'm glad to hear that." Placing a pen on his desk, Carlisle smiled at me. At least I had caught him while he was in a good mood, even if I was about to ruin it. "I'm not sure if I'm ready to be a grandfather yet. I'm also not sure if I could protect you from Charlie and his guns."

"I'm not sure about that last part either." I scratched my neck and tried to step back, suddenly remembering that I hadn't moved into the room and couldn't escape. "Charlie's kind of protective of Bella," I muttered nervously.

"What's wrong, son?" Carlisle asked with concern. "You know you can talk to me about anything."

I exhaled again and spoke. "I want to go and meet Camilla. I need to face her."

Carlisle's smile vanished as soon as his mother's name escaped my lips. In a split second he went from happy to angry, and it was my fault. Closing his eyes for a few seconds, he drew his tightly together as he tried to gain his composure. "No," he said firmly.

"Please, hear me out, Dad." My voice was shaky as I prepared my thoughts. "I _need_ to do this for myself. I know what she did to me, to us as a family. That's why I need to meet her."

While I paused to gather my thoughts, Carlisle silently shook his head at me.

"I don't want to know her like I've come to know Frank and Irene. They're great and I actually like them. I need to see her at least once. I need to do this for myself. I just… maybe I need to scream at her. I need to confront her so I can move on with my life."

Carlisle picked up the pen and rolled it in between his palms. "No." He shook his head at the same time. "No."

I was confident that he was playing with the pen so he wouldn't rush over and wring my neck. Maybe I should have gone and bought another set of dishes for Carlisle to break. It looked like he needed a good outlet for his anger.

"You just don't understand." My voice was weak and uneven as Fresh Prince's _Parents Just Don't Understand_ popped into my head. Why do I have weird moments when the stupidest shit comes to me when I was trying to do something important? "I need to do this. _For me_."

Carlisle dropped the pen onto his desk and held his head between hands. "You don't need to see her, Edward, trust me."

"Maybe you need to see her too," I supplied. "Tell her off one last time. Scream at her for all she's done to you."

He looked up at me, a painful look spread across his features. "I…don't know if I can… handle that."

"You've waited all these years and never faced her." I was running out of different ways to express my need to meet my grandmother. "I don't think I can do that. I need to see her while she's alive so I can move on."

Carlisle shook his head again. "I really don't want you to."

"I _need_ to," I insisted. "I _need_ to."

Although I was old enough to make my own decisions, out of respect for my father and not wanting to turn our conversation into an argument, I dropped the subject. Since I was a wimp, I turned and left, leaving Carlisle alone with his anger. Maybe that wasn't the best decision on my part. Outside in the hallway, I heard a loud bang come from his office, and imagined that it was his fist making contact with the heavy wooden desk.

_Great_, I thought. I'd done that to him. Too chicken to go back and talk more, I walked away with my proverbial tail tucked between my legs. _No_, I corrected myself. She'd done that to him. Camilla was the one that abused and berated her own son, was so evil that he didn't want me to meet her. The more I thought about it, the more I knew I needed to confront her. I needed closure and for some damn reason, she was a part of that process.

Carlisle acted strangely around me for the next week. Not wanting to upset him, or ruin what relationship we had formed, I let him be. I figured that if I let it go for now, that he'd eventually forget about it. In the meantime, I had to figure out how to confront my grandmother on my own, but how? I had no idea where she lived. Neither did Emmett. An internet search came up with several locations, but no exact address. I couldn't ask Tony, because he'd try to talk me out of it and tell Carlisle. I was stuck. I was moody and well, bitchy. Bella told me I had my man period.

Funny thing was, I did feel bloated, but thank God I wasn't bleeding anywhere. That would have been unnatural and alarming to say the least. Coincidently, I also had an unusual craving for chocolate.

Carlisle and I didn't talk unless you counted "Pass the butter" and "Thank you" at the dinner table as a full blown conversation. He either silently stared or ignored me all together. He didn't know what to do when he was around me, and I hated that. I hated that I may have broken the bond that we had both worked so hard to build.

_Saturday, April 4__th__, 2009_

One night, after nearly a month of odd behavior between me and Carlisle, Esme had enough, and aimed to put a stop to our situation. I was helping her in the kitchen after dinner, when Carlisle brought in a glass. Our shoulders brushed as he placed the glass into the sink, but neither of us said a word.

"Okay, that's it!" she said, throwing the sponge into the sink. "I've had it with you two."

Carlisle and I turned, sneaking a glance at each other before returning to Esme. The TV in the living room was suddenly silent as my siblings and their other halves eavesdropped on our conversation.

"Esme…" Carlisle's voice trailed off as he tried to collect himself.

"Oh, don't 'Esme' me!" What the hell did that even mean? "You two need to talk. Now! I'm tired of the silent treatment. It needs to stop! Our son asked you for something and just because you don't agree doesn't mean you have to act like a damn idiot!"

I heard a strangled laugh from the living room, and then the sound of Emmett's voice, low and apologetic. "Ouch."

"Go Mom!" Alice cheered. "The two of them have been acting like grade A, well, you know whats!"

Glancing over, I saw Alice, Jasper, Emmett, and Rose all kneeling on the couch, facing our direction.

Emmett turned to Alice, his brow furrowed. "Grade A you know whats?"

"Assholes," Esme said surprisingly. "They've both been acting like assholes."

"Oh." Emmett smiled widely, his dimples popping. "I wasn't sure Mom would use that word!"

"I have to admit," Jasper started. "The vibe in the house has been a little weird this week because of you two. I was hoping it wouldn't set Alice off into another attack." He wrapped his arm around Alice's shoulders as he finished the last of his sentence.

"Well, Jasper, you're good on guilt trips." Jasper smiled sheepishly at my father's words and Carlisle faced my direction for a moment before turning back to the living room. "I'm sorry that things have been uncomfortable."

"Yeah, me too," I nodded. "This was never meant to affect all of you."

"We live here, of course it affects us, you moron." Rose slapped a hand over her mouth. Emmett stared at Rose, his mouth agape at her words. "That was directed at Edward, not you Mr. Cullen."

"No apology necessary, Rose, by all means, we've both been morons." Carlisle exhaled through his mouth and turned in my direction. "Isn't that right, Edward?"

I stood there, my gaze trained on Alice and Emmett, my hands shoved in the front pockets of my jeans. "Yeah, I'd have to agree."

"You two need to talk." Esme wasn't done berating us. "Do it here. Do it up in your study. I don't care where you talk, but you're talking _tonight_!"

Carlisle scratched the back of his head. I'd done that plenty of times when I was nervous. "I hate the idea of you even being in the same room as _her_. Oh, and I do mean Camilla and not your own mother."

"Thanks for the clarification, dear," Esme said.

Carlisle reached out to Esme and squeezed her hand. "I have no problems with the two of you being in the same room together. It's the thought of Edward being with Camilla that scares me to death. I hate the idea."

"I know you do." My stomach was in knots as I talked and my gaze didn't quite meet his; instead I focused on the wall to the right of Carlisle's head. "I'm not particularly thrilled with the idea myself, but while her heart's still beating I need to face her. You don't have to worry about me making nice with Camilla. I trust what you've said about how horrible she is."

"You're not doing this alone."

My eyes met his in surprise, and my heart leapt inside my chest. "What?"

"I had Percy dig around. I had no idea where she was even lived," he said. "As it turns out, she's back at my childhood home in California. We'll go down there as a family."

"Really?" I was shocked Carlisle had relented. "But you don't need to see her; I don't want you going there and getting upset."

In the living room someone cleared their throat and then coughed. We both to find Emmett, still staring at us with the others, with his hand raised in the air. "I'll go with you. She can't get me all upset like she can with you, Dad."

Silently, I mulled over Emmett's offer. Maybe it would be better if someone went with me, but not Carlisle. He didn't want to see her, and was dealing with his past in his own way. Carlisle had gotten so upset by seeing her butler, how would he react if he was in the same room with his own mother? I couldn't put him through that. "I think it's a good idea, Emmett."

Carlisle faced me. "Are you sure? I'll go with you if you want."

"No," I shook my head vehemently. "Emmett will go with me, right bro?"

"I'm your man." Emmett's voice resonated from the living room as I made eye contact with Carlisle.

"We'll go down to California as a family, but when it comes to actually seeing Camilla, Emmett will go with you." I was convinced that option was the better one. "When are we going?"

"Spring break," Carlisle said without missing a beat. "We can leave next weekend. Does that sound good?"

I was relieved and nervous all at the same time. I was going to have the chance to confront my grandmother about my kidnapping. In a little more than a week, I'd be back in California for the first time since my birth. Somehow, it seemed like everything was coming to a full circle. Maybe I'd feel complete and could stop looking back at the past.

"Sounds great," I said. My stomach was twisted in a knot, but my voice didn't betray my nerves. "We'll leave next weekend."

_Wednesday, April 8__th__, 2009_

During the next several days, I ended up feeling as if I was on an emotional rollercoaster. I was happy that I would be able to confront Camilla, but also nervous as hell about it. What was I going to say? I knew she wouldn't care about my words to her. It sounded as if nothing got through to her heart. I had to make my visit about finding out the truth and at the very least, just telling her off for giving me away even if she never admitted her part in my kidnapping.

To make matters worse, one night while going upstairs, Carlisle decided to drop another bombshell on me.

"Edward, do you have a minute?" he called from his office. "I wanted to talk to you about something."

_Oh, God, he's going to take back his promise,_ I thought. As I entered his office, he closed the door behind us and a feeling of doom washed over me.

I sat down on the couch, my skinny ass hanging off of it, ready to bolt out the door once Carlisle delivered his bad news. Carlisle leaned against his desk, a thousand times calmer than the last time we were in his office together.

"I have some news for you about Liz," he said. "She was released from Clallam County Jail in Port Angeles yesterday. She's living in the outskirts of PA in a boarding house."

"O-oh." It was all I could manage to stutter out. I didn't know what to say. I'd been growing closer to Carlisle and Esme, and had been thinking less and less about Peter and Liz. I was bothered by that, even though I shouldn't have been. They weren't my parents and they should be a part of my past, but I started to wonder how Liz would make it on her own, how she was doing mentally, and how she would obtain a job now.

"Edward?" Carlisle's voice broke the silence. "Are you okay?"

"Um, yeah," I said. "You surprised me, that's all."

"Would you like to visit with her?"

It took me a few minutes to actually process his words. "What?"

Carlisle was smiling at me. "Would you like to visit with her so you can see how she's doing? You had closure with Peter, but not with Liz. You can say good-bye or….whatever it is you need to do."

I felt as if Carlisle had punched me in the gut. "I…I don't want to upset Esme."

"We've already talked about you seeing Liz." Carlisle raked his fingers through his already disheveled hair. "Esme knows that you saw Peter, and you're obviously going to see Camilla. After some thought, it's only fair that you have a chance to see Liz too. We could arrange for you to visit her after sometime after we get back from California."

"I…I think I'd like that."

Carlisle smiled. "I thought you would."

_Tuesday, April 14__th__, 2009_

I was a nervous wreck the entire next week. Jumpy and on edge, I snapped at Bella more than once. I kept apologizing when she asked if I needed a tampon. Since shoving a tampon up my ass wouldn't help the situation, I kept on declining her offer, as considerate as it was.

"It'll be so damn nice when you're off the rag." She said more than once to me. "I want my horny but sweet and adorable boyfriend back instead of the raging, moody bitch who currently inhabits your body."

"Now you know what men have to put up with!" Of course she didn't like my response, and I was met with a pillow to the head.

The trip down to California went well. I missed Bella, but that was to be expected. I secretly wished she could've come with us, but I knew this trip was limited to immediate family when I learned that even Jasper and Rose were staying behind. Not wanting to leave them at our house by themselves, they were staying at Bella's and were going to try to visit with their family during the break. Sadly, they could only take their parents and sister in small doses. I knew exactly how that felt. I had to build up my tolerance for Esme, but eventually I'd grown more used to her, able to accept her into my life now. Maybe the difference was in the fact that Jasper and Rose had been raised by their parents, and they'd just grown tired of the treatment while I had to get used to someone else taking over the role as my parental units.

Frank and Irene lived farther south than Camilla, but traveled upstate to visit with us. We went to the beach and swam in the cold ass ocean. The sun was warmer and stronger than I was used to in Washington. Alice laughed when we were out in the sun most of the day and I still hadn't gotten any kind of tan. "Edward, you sure are one white boy," she laughed. "You should still use sun screen though."

We were too far north to spot celebrities, but had fun on the beach building sand castles and swimming. I tried to imagine spending time on the beach with everyone when I was younger. Would Emmett and I have ganged up on Alice and tried to bury her in the sand? Or would Emmett have buried me on his own? I smiled at the mental picture as I felt something soft make impact with my cheek. Reaching up, I removed the clump of wet sand off my face and turned toward the sound of snickering.

"What the hell are you day dreaming about?" Emmett asked. "I've been calling your name for the last minute."

I wiped away the last of the remaining sand from my cheek and shook my head. "Nothing."

"Liar." Emmett turned away from me, a small bucket in his big hands and gathered more sand from his side. "We would have buried Alice together, but not too much or Mom would've killed us."

I smiled at Emmett's sudden mind reading ability.

Percy had contacted Camilla and prearranged a time for me to go meet her at her estate. Since salt water had made our skin all dry and itchy, Emmett and I took a shower before our trip. Carlisle and Esme nervously hugged us both before we left. Esme wrung her hands together after I pried myself out of her death grip of a hug. "We'll be fine," I assured her. "We'll be back in no time at all."

"Be careful," she warned us. "Don't believe her if she tries to play nice."

Carlisle wrapped his arm around Esme's waist. "He knows, right Edward?"

"Oh, trust me, I know."

We'd gotten rental cars and Emmett said he'd drive to Camilla's house. I thought it was for the best as I stared out at the scenery. For part of the drive we stuck to the Pacific Coast Highway and I stared down at the ocean and the waves. Emmett took a turn off the highway and we climbed upward, the car hugging the mountain as the road curved along side of it. I thought about what I wanted to say to Camilla when we reached her house. There was no doubt in my mind that I'd end up screaming at her sometime today.

Emmett was staying in the damn car. We were never specific about Emmett accompanying me into the house—just that he was going with me. I was being overly technical, but I knew he'd probably throw me over his shoulder and drag me out of the house before I was ready, before I was done yelling.

The car turned off the mountain road and we continued onward. While the property was probably considered residential, the houses were spread far apart from one another. Finally, Emmett turned into a long driveway and I stared at the house and the acres of lush, green grass. No wonder the word "estate" was used. It was huge… no… monstrous. The damn thing could be a hotel.

"Dad grew up here?" I asked Emmett. "Who would need all this room?"

"Octomom?" Emmett shrugged and put the car into park. "I've never been here before that I know of. Too fancy for my taste."

"Listen, bro, I want you to stay here in the car while I go inside." Emmett's face fell and I knew he didn't like my decision. "I have to do this on my own."

"Are you sure you're going to be okay?"

"I'll be fine." I wasn't confident of that. "If you're there with us, she may not tell me everything I want to know."

"I don't like this." Emmett rubbed his neck. "Don't make nice with the bitch, now, ya hear?"

"Don't worry, I won't." Popping the car door open, I got out and stared at the house. I heard Emmett's door open and he stood, staring at the monstrosity before us. "I thought you were staying here?"

"I am, moron." He slammed the door shut. "But if you thinking I'm going to stay cooped up inside the car on a beautiful day like this you're outta your damn mind." Emmett pulled his phone out of his pocket. "Thank God for the iPhone… and music and games. Gotta keep myself occupied somehow."

Emmett hopped up on the hood of the car and leaned against the windshield. "At least wake me up before you steal the car out from under me."

I suppressed a laugh before turning toward the house. Standing in front of the door, I wondered if I'd made the right decision about having Emmett wait for me. I could turn around and call for him to join me. The door suddenly opened James, my grandmother's creepy ass _factotum_ as Carlisle called him, opened the door wider and bowed from the waist. "Hello, Master Anthony." Rising back to his full height, he eyed me suspiciously, his lips curled in an unnatural smile. "Please come in. Your grandmother is eager to make your acquaintance."

* * *

**A/N:** I know not all of you use Twitter. Would any of you want me to make a fan page on Facebook? I've been thinking about it but don't know if anyone would actually use it.


	44. The Wicked Witch

**Disclaimer:** I'm not Meyer or Andrews. No copyright infringement is intended.

**A/N:** Yes! This is an actual CHAPTER, not a notice that I'm not continuing or officially putting _Legacy_ on hiatus. Yeah! Sorry for the lack of updates. I had major writers block, was busy, and the hardest thing that I had to deal with was that I had no beta. In some odd miscommunication and through no fault of my own, my lovely beta didn't want me anymore. Tears were shed on both our parts. I saw no sense in writing if I had no one to edit my shit and I couldn't find anyone I meshed with really well. Then I met Brandy. Thanks Brandy! And thank you for the "desk placement" because I was freakin' stuck as hell on that.

I just have a few quick things to say before we get on with the chapter. Please read 'em! I want to thank those who have found _Legacy_ while it's been on an unofficial hiatus. I want to thank those of you who have emailed me, asking if I was going to finish. I want to thank those of you who have tweeted me, asking me if I'm writing. _Thank you_. You weren't bothering me. To me, it meant that someone still gave a damn and wanted to continue to read my story and it was important enough for you to take the time to contact me. I may not be able to reply to every review, but when someone asks a question I can answer or PM's me with more than a beta request, I try my damnest to get back to you. Thank _**YOU**_ for sticking with me.

Oh, for those of you who don't tweet, I have a Facebook page – search for "Fan Fiction by Autumn Dreamer" to find it. The user icon is currently the black and white _Legacy_ banner with Kellan and Rob as Emmett and Edward.

On with the show!

**Chapter 44: The Wicked Witch**

_Tuesday, April 14th, 2009_

When it finally sank in that Edward was going to see Camilla, I decided I needed to act quickly. Emmett had volunteered to go with his brother, but that wasn't nearly enough. I left after they had, following far behind so they wouldn't spot me. I kept wondering if Edward would change his mind and their rental car would suddenly turn around and pass me, heading back to the beach house. Sadly, it never did. He was stubborn and his mind was set that he was meeting with Camilla. There was no doubt that he was one of us. A Cullen through and through.

When Emmett made the turn into the main driveway I continued down the road and made the left into the servant's entrance. From some digging around, I doubted that it was used much anymore as Camilla had only two servants still on her payroll. I stopped and parked behind the garage, hiding my own rental car from view of the house. Nervously, I shut the car door with care and quietly made my way toward the back of the house. When I reached the door, I dug into my jeans pocket and removed a key. Praying it worked, I slid it into the keyhole and turned it slowly. I was rewarded with a click and, turning the doorknob achingly slow, I silently made my way inside and hoped the door wouldn't squeak.

I stood in the kitchen, listening for any noise in the house. It creaked and groaned from age, but was otherwise quiet. I stared at the refrigerator, remembering so many times when we had to steal food out of it to avoid her. My body trembled at the memories and with a shake of my head, I blocked them out for the time being. This was no time to reminisce about the past.

I could only think of one place Camilla would meet with Edward—father's old study. She had taken a liking to it after he died and started using it as her own. I would need to travel along the hidden passageways to spy on them undetected. Edward and Emmett arrived before I had but I hadn't heard James meet them at the door. Maybe Emmett was trying to talk his brother out of coming inside.

Atta boy.

In case that wasn't going to happen, I continued onward through the kitchen. Peering around the corner, I faintly heard opera in the far distance. With no one in sight, I knelt down and pushed hard against a panel in the hallway.

Nothing.

I tried to control the panic that was rising within me. Could the passageways be blocked? Had someone squealed about them and Camilla had them sealed up? I pushed against the panel again, harder, and felt less resistance. Again I pushed, and finally it gave way, swinging upward. In case the noise had alerted anyone of my presence, I hurried inside and replaced the board. Reaching into the breast pocket of my blazer, I removed a flashlight and turned it on.

The passageway was dusty and full of spiders. I wished I had brought a mask to wear. There was no telling what I was breathing into my lungs. I continued on toward my destination when I heard the doorbell ring. Pausing, I vaguely heard James and Edward's voices at the door and knew I needed to go forward. The music seemed to get louder the closer I was to reaching my destination.

The minutes ticked by as I slowly wound through the passageway. Crouching down, I shined the flashlight on the wall and found the secret opening to the office. With the music now blaring, I carefully slid the panel about an inch so I could see into the office. To my advantage the office was still set up as it had been all those years ago. The desk, centered to make it the focal point of the room, was placed so that Edward, when seated in one of the two chairs across from the witch's throne, would have his back to the door as Camilla entered. My hiding space, directly across from the side of the desk with the door to my left, would provide me a clear view of both of them once Camilla took her seat, and allow me to keep an eye on Edward when he entered the room.

I shined the flashlight around my general vicinity, searching for any spiders that might be nearby. They were not my favorite creature and I didn't want one to suddenly startle me and give my position away. While scanning the ground something caught my eye and I shined the flashlight down on it. My brow furrowed once I fully saw what the object was. A very faded green piece of paper lay at my feet. I picked it up and unfolded it, examining it at once.

A twenty dollar bill.

I stared at it in wonder. Could it be? From all those years ago? Hearing voices enter the study, I folded the bill and put it in my back pocket. Spying through the thin opening, I watched as James escorted Edward into the study.

"Mistress Camilla will be in momentarily." He attempted to smile, but it appeared to be an evil lopsided smirk. "Please have a seat. Would you like anything?"

"Nothing you can give me," Edward said. "Thanks anyway."

James bowed and left the room. Edward scanned his surroundings and upon James' exit, muttered under his breath, "What an ass kisser. He must have his lips somewhere up inside her colon."

The minutes ticked by as Camilla made him wait. And wait some more. It was an old, but useful strategy. The longer you waited, the more annoyed you were bound to be which made you more volatile. If you were volatile, in her warped mind she was able to justify her actions against you.

While we both waited for the Wicked Witch, I wished I could have let Edward know I was there if he needed me. Fear made me freeze in my spot. It would be better if he never knew that I was watching out for him in the shadows. Edward's fingers strummed a tune I didn't know against the arm of the chair.

Sighing, Edward retrieved his iPhone from his back pocket and played with the screen for a minute before putting it away again. His fingers renewed their rhythm along the side of his chair.

A few more minutes passed before the knob turned and the old, wooden paneled door opened slowly. Camilla entered, an air of superiority wafted in ahead of her in an attempt to smack anyone in the face. I hadn't seen her in years, not that I wanted to, but she was still easily recognizable. The harsh lines in her face had been joined by a few wrinkles. I assumed she had regular Botox appointments to keep her age hidden. Her dark hair had seen better days and was now streaked with gray.

Edward rose from his chair and turned to Camilla. "I see you somehow managed to acquire some manners."

He sat back down, his eyes fixed forward toward the desk, away from Camilla. "My butt was numb from waiting."

"Such insolence," she said as she slowly walked past Edward. "You must get that from your father."

I smiled at her comment. It was at this time I noticed she was using a cane and was favoring her left side. Perhaps she had the misfortune of suffering from a stroke in the past.

"It's just one of the many things I have gotten from my father." His voice was tense, but even. "Just because I grew up poor doesn't mean that I don't have manners."

Camilla sat down in the high backed chair and I noted that it had taken her some effort to do so. She must be cursing her visibly failing health.

"I-" Edward started before Camilla cut him off with a wave of her hand. She pressed a button on the intercom system and a few seconds later James' voice echoed throughout the room.

"What can I do for you, Mistress Camilla?"

"Bring me a glass of water so I can take my pills in a few minutes after Anthony has left." She said hoarsely, clearing her throat.

"Yes, Mistress, right away."

"No please? No thank you?" Edward sighed. "My, what manners _you_ have."

"Such rude behavior, Anthony-"

"Edward," he said. "I go by _Edward_."

"_Fine_," she said, her voice steady. "_Edward._ I have no need to say please and thank you to my _hired_ help, nor do I have to explain myself to _you._"

James entered the room and placed a glass of water on the desk. "Is there anything else I can get you, Mistress?"

"No, James." She flicked her wrist at him. "You may go."

Camilla moved the glass to her left and sighed. "I sometimes wonder why I keep him on. He always brings me cold water when I have specifically stated that I desire my water to be room temperature."

"Oh, the hardship you must endure!" Edward's tone was sarcastic. "It's a wonder that you tolerate such insolence from your man servant!"

"I do not find your words to be funny." Camilla said stiffly.

Edward rolled his eyes. "I'm so glad that I didn't get my sense of humor from you."

"No, you received something much greater from your grandfather and me." Camilla paused briefly as she stared at what I knew was a grand painting on the wall behind Edward. "You were destined with our great legacy."

He was uncharacteristically quiet for a moment. "Great legacy? You _gave me away_. How is that part of a great legacy? Did your grandmother do the same to you? Does this run in the family? Every generation gives away one of their own?"

"Such non-sense from you, really," Camilla huffed. "You're back with your parents, what does it matter?"

Although I shouldn't have been surprised, my jaw dropped at her attitude toward Edward's kidnapping. She truly had no remorse for her actions all those years ago. He weathered many ordeals growing up and in the last few months, but because he was fine it was all okay in her book.

Edward leaned forward in the chair, his balled up fists resting on the wooden desk. "Why? Why did you give me away?"

"You haven't figured it out by now?" Camilla coughed and reached for the glass of water. Edward bolted out of his chair and reached it before she did, moving it away from her.

"I want answers, Camilla." Edward was defiant and stood his ground, keeping the glass of water away from her even as she attempted to clear her throat once more. Camilla reached for the intercom, but Edward reached it before she did and moved it out of her grasp. "Tell me. I want to know from you. No hearsay. No assumptions. No rumors. I want the truth. From you."

Though I couldn't see her face, I hoped that she was starting to choke. Edward stood his ground, not letting her near the intercom or the water she so desired. "I want answers, woman!"

"I did it for the _money_, damn it!" Camilla said hoarsely. "Anthony knew that Carlisle and Esme wanted to have more children besides that overgrown ox named Emmett. He said he had talked to Carlisle once about naming their next son after him. Carlisle never promised him anything, but the mere thought had made Anthony joyous beyond reason. He had changed his will so that everything he had worked for would go to Carlisle's middle child instead of leaving everything to me! I couldn't stand for that! Even though you weren't even born when Anthony prematurely passed, I couldn't have everything given to _you_, an unborn _baby_. After his death I did some digging around and found two wills. I took my chances and decided to burn the one that gave everything to you. The lawyer's office conveniently lost their copy." The corner of her mouth turned up in a wicked smile. "The first draft gave me _something_ while I deserved _everything_. Are you happy now that you have your little confirmation? Does it make it any better?"

What a greedy, conniving, lecherous bitch!

"No, it doesn't make anything any better. You kept me from my family." Edward's voice was furious. "I don't care about the money. Why did you want to see me?"

He pushed the intercom and water back towards her and remained standing in front of the desk. "I wanted to see with my own two eyes that you were alive."

"Here I am," he said. "I'm alive, no thanks to you.

Edward turned to leave without her dismissing him. She must have been infuriated with his behavior. As he walked to the door, she watched him with great interest.

"So much like him," she muttered.

He turned back in Camilla's direction. "What?"

Shaking her head, she reached for the glass and took a sip. "So defiant," she said. "Just like your father."

"You betcha, _Grandma_." He was calm and collected on the outside. "I'm not ashamed of it either."

Pride swelled in my heart at the comparison. I patted the pocket of my jacket as she sipped at her water again. She couldn't drink the entire glass because she needed to take her pills. "You may go now."

"That's fine with me." Edward opened the door and immediately bumped into James. "I'm through with her. She's all yours," he muttered, side stepping James and I heard his footsteps continue toward the front of the house.

"Are you well, Mistress?" James asked, sounding surprisingly sincere. "Do you need anything?"

"Leave me." Her voice was stern. "I have something I need to attend to."

James nodded and left, closing the door behind him. Camilla sat at the desk, her fingers clasped under her chin for several minutes. A soft sigh escaped her lips before she slowly rose from the chair and mumbled, "It's upstairs, in my bedroom safe. I must get it myself."

Dumbfounded, I watched her walk to the door and leave the study. Whatever she was getting it must have been important to her since she didn't have James obtain it. Most importantly though, her decision gave me the opportunity I so desperately desired. The bedrooms were on the second floor, which would afford me the time I needed to accomplish my task. Pulling on a pair of gloves, I carefully listened for any noise, but heard none except for the usual noises of the house. I pushed at the paneling and it gave way, allowing me access into the study. I stretched and hoped my eyes would adjust to the light quickly. I had no time to waste. Reaching into my jacket pocket, I removed a folded cloth. Spreading the cloth out, I placed the vial carefully on the desk. I was fast in my work, wiping Camilla's glass and the intercom of Edward's finger prints with the cloth. When I was sure my mission had been accomplished, I picked up the vial and unscrewed the top.

Two drops.

With a steady hand I pinched the rubber handle and liquid was suctioned up inside of the tube of the medicine dropper.

Two drops.

I held it over her glass and released the handle. Two drops fell into the glass.

Nothing more, nothing less.

Two drops.

It would be enough. For a nanosecond I second guessed myself, almost tempted to pour the water out and leave, but then I thought better of it. This had to be done. For the safety of my family.

Wrapping the vial back up in the cloth, I shoved them back in my jacket pocket and headed for the passage way. The door knob turned just as the panel was back in place. I needed to move it an inch upward, so I waited. Camilla carried a manila envelope with her. She sat at the desk and placed the envelope in front of her. She stared at it. Opening it up, she spread the papers on the desk and rifled through them. Finding the page she had been looking for, Camilla opened the desk drawer and withdrew a pen. She made several bold lines across the pages and then proceeded to write.

"James," she said as she pressed the button on the intercom. "Come here at once."

He entered the study so quickly he might as well have been on the other side of the door. "Over here, now," she commanded. When he stood at her side, she went back to the paper, making quick work of whatever words she had added and shoved the pen in James's direction. "Your initials." She pointed to the paperwork in front of her.

"Yes, Mistress." James bent over the desk and did as he was instructed.

"I have a very important job for you," she said. "I need you to follow Edward and Emmett."

"Do you need to know where the family is staying?" James asked.

Camilla scowled. "No, I have no need for that information."

"Then, why-"

"James!" she snapped. "You need to see that they don't reach their destination. _Ever_. Do you hear me?"

James nodded. "I understand. Is there anything else?"

"If you screw up, I know nothing." She stared at him. "If you do not accomplish this mission then _you_ are terminated. My grandsons are _not_ to return to their family, do you understand me?"

James nodded heartily. "Yes, Mistress."

"Leave now, before they get too far away," She said curtly and he hurried off toward the door. My blood boiled in my veins. They were innocent and she…I needed to leave. I needed to intercept James, but I also needed to make sure I had accomplished my mission. Just one more minute, that's all it would take.

As the door shut behind James I moved the panel up another notch. I could barely see anything, but at the same time the view was just enough.

Camilla let out a shaky breath and stared at Father's portrait. She then snapped up her pills, grabbed the glass of water and drank deeply.

I smiled and then frowned. Two drops. It was done.

I hurried along the passageway, anxious to get Edward and Emmett to safety. She must not claim any more victims.

Even posthumously.

XOXOXO XOXOXO XOXOXO XOXOXO

Upon exiting the house my eyes darted straight toward the car. When I had left to go inside Emmett had been stretched out on the hood, using the windshield as a backrest. Where the hell had he gone?

"Emmett!"

"Over here!" Following the sound of his voice, I found him lounging under the shade of an overgrown tree, his ear buds falling to his chest from the sudden movement. Shielding his eyes from the sun with one of his huge hands, he squinted in my direction. "What's going on? Through with the old bat already?"

I marched toward the car and got in the driver's seat. "Get your ass in gear, bro."

Emmett ran over, a look of concern on his face. "Um, maybe you shouldn't drive."

"I'm fine." I tried to close the door, but he was holding onto it firmly. "Come on, let's go. I don't want to ever come back to this place."

"I should drive," he insisted. "Don't make me kick your ass."

I almost snorted. "As if you would." Putting the key in the ignition, I grabbed blindly for the seat belt and tugged at it until I heard it firmly click into place. I turned the key and shifted the car into drive. "Unless you'd like to jog all the way back I'd highly suggest getting your ass in the passenger seat."

"Okay, okay!" Emmett let go of the car and stared at me. He raised his hands in my direction, palms open and fingers spread wide apart. "Stay!"

"What the fuck? Am I a damn dog now?" His eyebrows raised in amusement. "Get in the fucking car!"

Emmett ran around the front of the car and slid into the passenger seat. I was partially surprised he hadn't tried to slide over the hood like Luke Duke.

Of course, knowing Emmett, he'd accidently hit the windshield and crack it with one of his big, oversized appendages. Then we'd be stuck here at Camilla's until AAA reached us with a tow truck or new rental car. I would start to walk before I'd sit in her driveway for one more minute.

"Click it or ticket, buddy." Emmett reached for the seat belt and brought it across his chest. "There's something wrong with that belt. I know I heard it click, but it came undone on its own on the trip down here."

Emmett pushed the end of the seat belt in harder. "We'll have to tell the rental company."

I double checked for any oncoming cars before pulling out of the driveway. When I was sure that nothing was approaching I eased the car out into the roadway. We were silent for a few minutes before Emmett cleared his throat and spoke.

"Should I even ask what happened or is it too much to talk about right now?" Emmett asked tentatively. "I don't want to get you upset while you're behind the wheel."

I opened my mouth and exhaled. There was no point in waiting to tell Emmett what had happened with Camilla. I thought I was calm enough to tell him what she had told me. "Even though I wasn't born yet, our Grandfather was going to leave everything to me. He wanted a namesake," I explained. "Isn't that Uncle Tony? I didn't think Carlisle and Tony had that bad of a relationship with their father that he wouldn't have thought of Uncle Tony as his namesake."

"I'm not sure, really," Emmett sighed. "I think they liked him more than Camilla, but at the same time, he wasn't around. That can cause resentment, you know? Maybe Dad and Tony didn't get along with Grandfather. I'm not sure. I'm just creating more questions. Maybe if he had been around things would have been different."

"I don't know. This is all very messed up." I shook my head in confusion. "Camilla couldn't stand to have me inherit everything. She found the will that you told me about that split everything up. At least she was included in that one."

My concentration was on the road, but I could see Emmett looking at me from the corner of my eye. "I bet she still didn't like that," he said. "She probably wanted everything."

"In her warped, twisted mind, she deserved everything." While at an intersection I paused my explanation so I could focus on the road and then continued. "She actually burned the one that gave everything to me and said something about the copy the lawyer's office retained had disappeared. It sounded kind of sketchy if you ask me."

"Wow." Emmett went silent for a moment. "I wish I had been a fly on the wall to overhear that conversation."

"Do you know if the voice memo app that comes with the iPhone has a time limit?" I asked.

Emmett's head swiveled in my direction and he was smiling. "I once recorded one of our classes, so what's that? Like forty minutes?"

"You were able to listen to the file and everything? Without any problems?"

He started laughing. "Oh, tell me, please tell me that you recorded your conversation with Camilla."

"I tried to at least," I explained. "I hope like hell it worked."

"Oh!" Emmett pounded on the dash. "You are a fucking genius! All hail the genius!"

"This so-called fucking genius hopes he left enough of the phone hanging out of his back pocket to catch the conversation with Camilla." I really, really hoped that. There was just something about the way she described Grandfather's death as _premature_ that made me suspicious. Unless he was having medical problems or had been a lot older than Camilla and died of old age, wasn't every death premature?

"I think I would describe myself as 'giddy' right now," Emmett laughed. "Damn, you made me giddy."

We were both laughing as I pulled out into the intersection. I hadn't seen another vehicle, but the next thing I could remember was a loud bang as our rental car was hit. The impact came from Emmett's side and with such force that my head ricocheted off the side window and the air bag went off in front of me. My head made contact with the steering wheel as the sound of twisting and breaking metal echoed in my ears.

The car finally came to a standstill, but it felt lopsided, as if the tires on Emmett's side were flat, but oddly worse. "Emmett?" I called for my brother, but heard nothing in return. "Emmett?"

I was dazed by what had happened. Where the hell had a vehicle come from to hit us? "Emmett!" I called him again.

Nothing.

Oh, God, we were hit on his side. Oh, God, please don't let him be dead, please don't let him be dead. _Please_.

I felt something trickle down into my right eye. Reaching up, I wiped at my eyes, opened them and saw blood on my fingers. I felt around on my forehead and feeling more wetness, assumed I had been cut on my forehead.

There was the sound of a horn in the distance, the kind that was on tractor trailers. It blew once and then twice, longer as if the driver was trying to warn someone.

But it was too late. Tires squealed. There was another loud bang of glass and metal from somewhere behind us. A few seconds later a door opened and closed, footsteps hit the pavement and were accompanied by yelling and swearing. Afraid that I was going to pass out, I tried to yell again.

"Help! Help us!" My voice sounded weak, so I tried again. "Help! Help!"

The sound of footsteps quickly approached. "Someone there?" A deep male voice asked. He sounded older, like Frank. "Oh my God!"

I could hear him; he was on the other side of my door. "Hold on kid, I'm gonna get you help!"

Turning my head to the left, I saw the man's face. I was right; he was older like my maternal grandfather. It was odd though, he was really tall. Like nine feet tall. No, that wasn't right. Maybe when I hit my head it did something to my brain. The man was standing at an odd angle too. He was shaking even though it wasn't winter. "Emmett, where's Emmett?"

"I don't know kid," he said with a quiver in his voice. "I don't know kid. You stay still. _Don't_ move."

He ran, back to his truck I assumed. My mind was foggy. Yeah, I was going to pass out. Soon. I tried turning my head to the right. It hurt my neck to do so. I tried again, slowly. The seat belt was cutting into my neck. I continued to turn my head until I wished I hadn't.

Emmett's car door was flung wide open. He was nowhere in sight. All I could see was trees and sky.

The car was hanging off a cliff.

And then everything went black…

xoxoxoxo xoxoxoxox

**A/N:** You so wanna kill me now, huh? Yes, I'm evil.


	45. Killed On Impact

******DISCLAIMER:** I am not Stephenie Meyer (characters) or VC Andrews (plot inspiration via her book _Dawn_). No copyright infringement is intended.

**A/N: **Yeah! An update! I had a problem where it seems as if my beta ran away from me again. I had this chapter done for over a week, but I hadn't heard from her. Many thanks to SweetishBubble and itlnbrt for looking this over for me since I was getting desperate. I really like to have someone check over things before I post because I make the stupidest little mistakes. **  
**

**PLEASE NOTE (PLEASE READ):** Quick note, I'm participating in two fandom events this summer. Each of them are getting a part of a new short story that I'm writing. The story is Emmett and Rose based and is kind of different from what I've written in the past. It's called _The Kingdom_.

_A mix of old fashioned and modern day where castles, horse drawn carriages, television and cell phones coexist. Prince Emmett saves Rose from an uncertain future in a neighboring kingdom and doesn't want to give her up. Rose feels comfortable and secure with Emmett, but as a poor peasant is she meant to be with him forever?_

If you're interested in reading it before it hits my profile this fall, please check out Fandom4Vets and Fandom4LLS. Each are great charities. If you can't figure it out with Google, fee free to contact me for the link.

* * *

**Chapter 45: KILLED ON IMPACT **

_Tuesday, April 14th, 2009_

Instructions were being yelled. I sensed there were more people quickly shuffling around me. Immobile and confused as hell, I felt myself being lifted up on a backboard. I tried to turn my neck, but couldn't because of the brace that felt as if it was suffocating me.

"Emmett!" I screamed. "Where's my brother?"

A stranger's face came into my view. "Calm down kid, you're not helping yourself."

"Where's Emmett?"

They ignored my inquiries and attempted to ask me questions. How did I feel? Did anything hurt? What year was it?

"My head," I informed them, not really caring much about myself. Somewhere during my ordeal I must have cried. It felt as if tears had slid down my checks and my nose felt weird. I sniffed and, oh, that was stupid because it suddenly hurt. A lot. "My nose."

Those strangers were EMT's and they lifted the backboard I was on and loaded me into the back of an ambulance. In a vain attempt to get off the stretcher to look for Emmett I tried to twist my body. No go. In my weakened and impaired state the EMTs were easily able to stop my actions.

"He's going to hurt himself."

I felt a pain in my arm. "Ouch! What are you doing to me?"

"What's your name, kid? We're going to take you to the hospital."

The other EMT flashed a light into my eyes. "What's your name?"

"Edward Cullen," I answered. "Where's my brother? What did you do to me?"

"We gave you a little something to calm you down." The EMT said. "Just relax. When you wake up you'll be at the hospital."

Suddenly I felt groggy. It hit me so fast, like a ton of bricks. I was so out of it. My eyes wanted to close and I could feel my body relaxing. I tried to fight the feeling, but it was useless. Those damn EMTs had drugged me.

And before my eyelids involuntarily closed, I drifted off into an induced unconsciousness and the last words I heard were _"...killed on impact."_

xoxoxo xoxoxo xoxoxo

_Beep…beep….beep…_

What the hell? Shut up. I had a headache.

_Beep…beep….beep…_

Wait, where was I? I was lying down like last time. Somewhere. But where?

_Beep…beep….beep…_

There was something warm on my right hand, weighing it down. It moved a little bit, shifted away and then came back.

_Beep…beep….beep…_

There was movement to my left hand side. The beeping stopped. There was a rush of noise and then it went quiet again. I could hear muffled voices in the distance.

I tried to open my eyes a little bit and everything was hazy, blurry. I attempted to blink and everything became a bit clearer, but the light was blindingly bright. Overwhelmed, my eyes slammed shut.

Then it all came back to me. The accident. What happened to Emmett? Moaning, I turned my head to the right.

Was I in a hospital? Maybe that was the beeping noise. Unless heaven suddenly had beepers. Or hell, though I didn't think I was that bad of a person to go there. I was basically a stereotypical teenage boy – I was horny too often for my own good, sometimes swore excessively, but other than that, I hadn't been too bad. Right?

Right?

I tried opening my eyes again. Oh, that was better. Everything was becoming clearer, but still too bright. My mouth felt like cotton. I attempted to move my fingers, but I wasn't sure if anything happened. I opened my mouth, but nothing came out.

That had been a first.

And to think, Charlie hadn't been here to witness it. He'd pop a bottle of champagne in celebration.

I tried opening my eyes again and saw lots of white. I wasn't surrounded by flames, so I wasn't in hell. At least I hoped that was the case. The weight had been lifted from my hand and I heard a shuffling noise next to me. Slowly opening my eyes again, I turned my head and blinked. Esme was sitting by my bedside, aimlessly flipping through the pages of a magazine, not stopping on one page long enough to even read anything.

"Mom?" My voice cracked.

Esme's head snapped in my direction. "Edward?" She bolted from the chair and stood next to my bedside. Her hand reached out toward me, wiping hair off my forehead.

"Mom?"

She smiled faintly. "It's Esme, how do you feel?"

"Mom," I paused because my throat felt as dry as a desert. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, I don't know what happened."

I apologized over and over but it would never be enough. I killed her first born.

I was crying hysterically, tears streaming down my face, over my lips and down my neck. Esme suddenly spoke to no one in particular, "My son is awake, but he's very agitated."

"Someone will be right there," a feminine voice said. She must have pressed a button somewhere on my bed to call a nurse.

"I'm so sorry, Mom, I'm so sorry." I kept on repeating that phrase over and over. Like it would somehow make everything better. Like it would make anything better. Like it would bring Emmett back. "I know you'll never forgive me, but I'm so sorry."

As Esme was trying to force me back down on the bed a nurse rushed in and went to my left side. Within seconds I felt weak and my mind was in a fog.

That damn nurse had drugged me.

xoxoxo xoxoxo xoxoxo

There was no beeping this time. I had a dull headache again or was it still? I wasn't sure it had ever gone away. My eyelids were heavy as I groaned and tried to open them. I felt the bed shift on both sides, as if people had sat down.

"Edward?"

Yes, that was my name, but I wasn't quite ready to answer to it.

"Edward?" Carlisle's voice called out to me again. "Try to wake up son."

"He's really out of it this time," Esme said. "Maybe he was given too much."

"Edward, I need you to wake up and stay calm." Carlisle's voice was eerily serene for what had happened. "Come on, try to wake up."

My eyelids fluttered open, but quickly slammed shut. They did that same action a few more times before I was able to keep them open.

"I'm so sorry." My voice cracked. "I'm sorry."

"Stop apologizing, Edward," Carlisle said sternly. "Emmett's going to be okay. His left arm is broken and like you, he suffered a concussion, some scrapes, and a few facial burns from the airbag going off in your faces."

Emmett wasn't dead. Tears sprang to my eyes. "Are you sure?" My voice was so gravely that I didn't recognize it.

"Yes, I'm very sure that he's alive. I've seen him with my own two eyes. He wrote a note for you." Carlisle reached into the back pocket of his jeans, pulled out a folded up piece of paper, and handed it to me.

He helped me unfold it. Upon viewing the note the words were foggy and I couldn't concentrate. "That's his hand writing, but I can't see it well enough yet. Can you read it to me?"

"Sure," he nodded. Carlisle took the note back and looked down at it. _"Dear Moron, You have now graduated to Shithead." _Carlisle laughed. "You and your brother are so nice to each other."

I grinned. "It's all said with love, Dad."

"Yeah, I'm sure it is." He chuckled and then continued. _"I'm okay. My arm left arm is broken and the doctor said it should heal normally in six weeks. You are so lucky that it's my left one that's broken and not my right. I'm right handed so if I had broken it you'd be wiping my ass until it's healed. Seriously, I'm okay. Stop getting hysterical when you wake up. It's not manly, Shithead. I'm good. Dad said that when you wake up and calm down we can visit each other. He's going to hijack a wheelchair and spring me. Don't tell Mom."_

Carlisle stopped and looked at Esme. "Sorry, honey."

Esme rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Don't get us kicked out of the hospital."

"There's no reason they can't visit each other if the visitor is in a wheelchair." Carlisle noted and returned to Emmett's letter. _"Anyway, that's all. Mom said you were worried about me so I wanted to let you know that I'm a few doors down from you in this damn hospital. Oh, hey, when you finally are able to get up and go to the bathroom make sure you close the back of your damn hospital gown. Don't scare a nurse and make her scream like I did. Love ya bro, see you soon. Doofus."_

Esme put a hand over her mouth and stifled laughter. "Did he really flash a nurse?"

"He not only flashed a nurse, but he flashed _me_ as well."

"And you weren't blinded by the light of his pale white butt?" I asked seriously.

"Good to see you're feeling better." Carlisle laughed and I felt Esme's hand on my arm, rubbing it reassuringly.

"I still feel out of it somewhat." I went to wipe at my face with my left hand, but Carlisle reached out and stopped me.

"Your nose is broken," he explained. "You need to be careful for the next two to three weeks while it heals."

"What else is wrong with me?" I had been so worried about Emmett, thinking I had killed him, I didn't know if anything was wrong with me.

"Your nose is the worst of it and you have dark bruises under your eyes from that. The air bag went off in front of you so you have some burns on your face and chest." Carlisle was in full doctor mode, but thankfully explaining everything in words I could understand. I wasn't sure I could handle medical jargon quite yet. "You'll be fine. Your body needs time to heal. The two of you are very lucky."

Esme came at me with a tissue, gently wiping at my tear streaked face and taking extra care around my nose. "You do kind of look like hell though, dear," she said and Carlisle smiled at her comment. "Just be prepared for when you see yourself in the mirror for the first time."

"I'm confused about something," I admitted. "The last thing I remember from the car is that Emmett wasn't there. How did he survive?"

"Someone was looking out for him." Esme whispered the words quietly.

Carlisle nodded. "He was thrown from the car and landed on a ledge below."

He didn't have to tell me that it had been a close call. Although I still felt woozy and scatter brained from being knocked out, I could see it on both of their faces. There was no doubt that the ledge had saved Emmett's life. I had never been so thankful for a jutted out piece of land.

There was a knock at the door and Carlisle instructed the person to enter. A middle-aged woman in a white coat entered and smiled at me. "I heard you had woken and I wanted to come and formally meet you."

She walked over and stood next to Carlisle. "Edward, my name is Dr. Christine Leckadams. Do you have any questions for me?"

I frowned. "I don't think so. My dad just told me about my injuries."

"You'll need to take it easy for a few days," she explained. "No activities that require too much concentration for long periods of time. Don't watch television, read, or use your computer and phone or anything for an extended period of time. If you get a headache you can take Tylenol. Don't take aspirin or products that contain aspirin. When you get back home you'll need to have a follow up CT scan just to make sure you've fully healed from the concussion and that there's no complications." She took out a light, looked into my eyes and asked me a few questions like the EMT's had concerning my name, what year it was, and who was the current President. "I know your father knows all this, but I need to tell you, too." Dr. Leckadams winked at me. "I'm going to prescribe an ointment for your burns. It'll help them heal and prevent scarring."

She made notes on a clipboard and talked to my parents. I was told to report anything odd to my parents because of the concussion.

"What's in the IV? I'm not going to be knocked out again, am I?" I asked curiously.

"It's a standard saline drip to keep you hydrated," the doctor informed me with a smile. "That won't knock you out. The valium did that. It can come out soon."

"Can I have something to drink?" I asked. "My mouth is so dry."

"You can have some water and if there are no problems then the IV can come out." The doctor wrote down some more notes and left.

"I'll go get you some ice water. Be right back," Esme announced as she reached for a tall Styrofoam container on my bedside table.

I was so thirsty it felt like I could drink the entire container. "Thanks, Mom."

She left and Carlisle was looking at me oddly. "What?"

He just shook his head and smiled. "Nothing," he muttered.

"Maybe you should go and hang out with Emmett for a while," I suggested "I don't want him to be alone."

"Tony is with him."

Confusion set in. "Wait, how long was I out? What day is it?"

Carlisle shifted on my bed. "It's the same day, but it's night time now."

I was still confused. While Tony didn't live in Forks, he didn't live any closer to California than we did. "How did Tony get down here so fast?"

"He was actually in San Francisco at a medical conference, so when I called him he hauled it on over as you would say. So, how are you really feeling?"

I shrugged. "Tired, achy, and my mouth is so dry I think I could drink the entire contents of a swimming pool."

"That's not unusual, so you're normal."

"First time in my life I can be classified as normal."

Carlisle grinned. "First time for everything."

There was a banging against the door and a small commotion outside. The door started to open and then closed again. "I'm driving and steering, I can't open the door too! Work with me here!" Esme said from outside.

The door suddenly kicked open and Emmett, sitting in a wheelchair, rushed in with Esme behind him. He held out his good arm to stop the door from slamming shut on them. "Ta da!" he announced.

"And she was worried about you sneaking him out?" I asked Carlisle before turning to Esme. "Hypocrite!"

"I couldn't help it." Esme maneuvered the chair over to my bed. Emmett held the Styrofoam container between his knees. "The wheelchair was sitting right there outside of his room. It was like a sign. I'm slightly surprised there wasn't a bright light shining down on it from the heavens."

Emmett placed the container on a table and then wheeled it in front of me. "If that thing was any closer I would have frozen my gonads off for you."

"I appreciate your sacrifice." Esme poured me a cup of ice water and handed it over to me. Before my lips met the cup Carlisle stopped me.

"Take it slow and sip so you don't throw up."

The intake of water went fine, but after a while the water needed to exit and that's when things went wrong. Horribly wrong.

I ended up flashing my father, mother, and brother. In unison all three of them yelled, "I'm blind!" and for extra measure Emmett shouted out, "The whiteness!" Esme surprised me by stating, "It's so bright, I gotta wear shades!" which made Carlisle and Emmett crack up. Okay, I had to admit that I laughed too.

Never in my life had I wanted a pair of boxer briefs more. Underwear is not to be taken for granted. I was so glad that Alice was not present for my edition of show and tell.

When I finally made my way into the bathroom and saw my reflection I realized that Esme had been right. Damn, I looked like hell. I barely resembled myself. In fact, I'd probably scare small children.

The IV was taken out and even though the needle wasn't in my arm anymore, it felt as if it was. Without the IV it was easier to move around and go to the bathroom. I had feared ripping the damn thing out of my arm since my first disastrous trip where I flashed my family.

I wanted to call Bella, but it was late and I didn't want to wake her and piss off Charlie. Feeling tired once again, I fell asleep. The next two days were boring as Emmett and I tried to keep occupied, but since we couldn't stare at anything for long periods of time we didn't have many options. Tony got us a deck of playing cards from the hospital gift shop and we played a few hands of poker.

"Pst," I nudged Emmett. "Don't you wish we had your deck of playing cards instead?" I asked in reference to the scantily clad set he had bought in Seattle.

He smiled widely at my comment. "That'd be sweet."

As if Tony knew what we were talking about, he squealed, "Oooh, naked girls, huh?" which made us laugh and our parents question us. It was the first time Tony had not been serious since I had seen him. He seemed anxious and jumpy.

The next day Frank and Irene brought Alice to visit us. Her arms latched around my neck in a tight hug and I had to unfurl her fingers so I could breathe. "I'm okay, sis, unless you're trying to kill me."

She finally let go and looked at me with tears in her eyes. "I'm just glad your okay." Afraid she was going to make herself have a panic attack, I made her sit down and breathe.

Irene had gotten us some underwear, sweat pants, and sweat shirts and Dr. Leckadams told us we could leave our room as long as someone was with us. The hospital had a squared off mini park-like area with trees and flowers, so we went outside and sat on the bench, glad to get some fresh air.

I was finally able to talk with Bella and reassure her that I was ok. She sounded relieved and I knew she was concerned about me. "I'm going to hug the stuffing out of you when I see you," she said. "You scared me."

"Just watch my nose and you can squeeze anything else you'd like."

I had been sitting outside with Carlisle when he had given me my iPhone, which hadn't succumbed to any serious damage due to it being in my back pocket at the time of the accident. Turning it on, an odd feeling settled over me, but why?

"Edward, are you okay?" he asked from my side. "You look like you're going to throw up."

"I think the accident made me forget something." I knew it did, and it was important for me to remember. But why? "Looking at my phone made me realize that."

"Temporary memory loss isn't unusual." Carlisle paused. "Why don't you look through your phone and see if something jogs your memory."

I clicked through the apps and nothing happened. No recognition of any kind. I had started to get a headache and was about to give up, when I clicked on the last grouping of apps I had labeled "AT&T." It was full of those apps that were supplied on the phone that you couldn't delete and usually never used. Like the default calculator and voice memos.

Voice memos.

I clicked on it and then brought up the recordings. There was one from the day that I had met with Camilla.

"Carlisle," I said, my voice barely above a whisper. "I figured it out. I remembered what I had forgotten."

"What is it, son?"

I pressed the recording on the phone and it started playing. "I recorded my conversation with Camilla. She admitted to kidnapping me."

It was odd to hear my own voice on the recording. Camilla spoke and I remembered how much hatred she spouted. "We should get this to the police. She could finally be charged with what she did."

Carlisle swallowed hard. "No, she can't be."

"Why?" Was he covering for his own mother? "Are you afraid of her?"

He shook his head. "No, I was never afraid of her. I loathed her."

"What is it then?"

"Edward, your grandmother is dead."

* * *

**AN:** Ding, dong, the witch is dead! How does that make you feel? Review, review, review please, thanks! You should know by now that I need validation! :)

And for those of you who swore to kill me, you can take it back now. Emmett is _alive_!


	46. Ding Dong, the Witch is Gone

**DISCLAIMER:** I am not Stephenie Meyer , VC Andrews (plot inspiration), or anyone remotely important.

**A/N:** I actually had this ready to go slightly over a month ago, but it seems as if I have lost another beta. *bangs head on desk* So, instead of continuing to wait, I'm posting this chapter even though it's not beta'd (or is it betaed?). I have really tried to go over it with a fine tooth comb to catch any mistakes, but I'm not perfect. Feel free to PM me with any boo boo's.

I have written an outtake called "Charlie in Charge" which is about the day Charlie went to Arizona to remove Bella from Renee's care. At this time I think I am going to use it for a fandom event because I would like to participate in Fandom4OK and Fandom4LLS and am having a hard time coming up with new ideas.

**Chapter 46: DING DONG, THE WITCH IS GONE **

_Thursday, April 16__th__, 2009_

"_Edward, your grandmother is dead."_

I had not been expecting that. Not in the least.

"Dead?" I asked. "Are you sure?"

"Very sure," Carlisle sighed. "Tony and I went together to I.D. her body."

"Wait, she was fine when I left." I was trying not to panic. "When did it happen?"

Carlisle saw my distress and put his arm around me. "Calm down, no one is implicating you," he whispered. "You have no reason to worry about that."

"What the hell happened?"

"She had a massive heart attack," he said. "She was found… oh, I need to tell you something else."

"Oh boy, what else can there be?" Bad news followed by more bad news? Then again, my grandmother being dead wasn't necessarily bad news. It was more like a huge surprise.

"When you had your accident did you see who hit you?"

I shook my head, trying to remember what had happened, but stopped when my vision started to swim and dizziness overtook me. I leaned forward, placing my head between my knees until everything stabilized. Carlisle sat silently, rubbing my back, waiting for me to regain composure. I sat up slowly to avoid my previous predicament. "No, Emmett and I were talking and laughing and then we were hit from out of nowhere. It was like the car had materialized out of thin air."

"The car that hit you belonged to Camilla and was driven by James. When he hit you the impact caused your car to almost go over the edge of the cliff." He paused and I heard him expel air from his lungs. "A tractor trailer came around the bend in the road and it was going too fast and couldn't stop. It hit James because the car was sitting in the middle of the road and he was killed on impact."

It all clicked then. The horn blaring. The squealing tires. The EMT's words. My grandmother had kidnapped me when I was two days old and almost eighteen years later she had tried to have me killed. I shifted slightly, supporting my elbows on my knees, and glanced at my father.

"Camilla was found after the police went to the house because of James." Even though she had been his mother, Carlisle seemed to show no real emotion over his mother's death. "They questioned the neighbors who told them that she lived basically alone with the exception of James as her staff. Because of her age and since she didn't answer the door they broke in and found her in father's study."

"Dead."

Carlisle sighed. "Exactly."

I closed my eyes and tried to steady my breathing. "I hope she burns in hell."

"I know."

I wanted to throw something and wondered if he felt the same way. What I wouldn't have given for a set of dishes right then. I would have shredded them to pieces. Carlisle appeared as if he could've gone through a set or two of his own. "How are you?"

"She's been dead to me for years now," he said, his voice rough but unwavering. "And now, she can't hurt you or anyone else ever again."

We sat there for a few minutes, neither of us saying a word until Carlisle cleared his throat and spoke. "Your mother is in the hallway and I think she'd like to see you. Do you think you can handle her right now? I can always tell her it's not a good time. I think she'd understand considering everything."

Glancing up, I spotted Esme standing on the other side of the glass enclosure, watching us. I knew she was concerned, understandably so. "She can come in."

Carlisle patted me on my back before he left. I straightened up and gazed up at the sky through the partial plexi-glass roof. The sky was bright blue, with big white fluffy clouds. If I had bothered to remember that portion of science class, I might've been able to tell what type of clouds they were. The door opened and then closed a few seconds later. My gaze left the clouds and I watched as my parents talked, presumably about me.

My parents. I hadn't referred to them in that manner a lot. They had probably shown me more love in the last few months that I had been with them then Camilla had ever showed Carlisle and Tony. An odd feeling of satisfaction and sadness washed over me.

I smiled as Esme reached out and embraced Carlisle. She was shorter than him and I could only make out the top of her head over his shoulder, but her arms encircled his back. They released each other and Carlisle blocked my view of Esme. She went around him and pushed open the door, her heels making contact with the stone pathway, echoing loudly in the small space. I watched her as she continued toward me and sat down on the opposite end of the bench.

Esme continued to be quite, letting me mull over my thoughts.

"Why?"

Esme looked confused. "Why what?" she asked.

"Why me?" I was thinking out loud at this point. "Why did she hate me so much? I was _two days old_. What did I ever do to her?"

"You never did anything to her, honey. You were a baby," she said. "It could have been Emmett or Alice. Or even one of your cousins. It just happened that all of her plans fell into place with you."

"I guess."

Esme wrung her hands together and pivoted her body in my direction. "I have never been so happy that someone has died," she said with no emotion. "And I don't feel bad about feeling that way."

"What about Dad?" I asked. "He said he's fine."

"I think there's some part, deep down, that's a bit sad over her death," she explained. "She was his mother after all, but treated him and Tony so badly that it's impossible to forgive her. You never give up on those that you love. I think some part of him had always hoped that his mother would come around and apologize for her misdeeds and strive to be a better person, but she never did. She was horrible until the very end."

"I'm tired of crying because of her." I said. "I'm tired of being angry over things because of her. I only met her once, but I'm tired of her and want to get on with my life."

"She's not worth your tears and anger." Esme moved closer, her eyes narrowed with intent. "She wasn't before and she's certainly not now. You don't know how much I want you to be able to move on with your life without her legacy shadowing you."

This time I moved closer to Esme, closing the gap between us until we were sitting next to one another. "Mom?"

She smiled faintly and blinked. "Yes?"

Her hand closest to me was wrapped around the seat of the bench, clutching it tightly. I placed my hand over hers. "Thank you for not giving up on me."

"You're my son." Her grip on the bench eased up and I squeezed her hand. "I love you. I will _never_ give up on you."

Placing my head on her shoulder, I leaned against Esme. "I know you do. It is getting easier for me."

"You called me Mom." Her breath hitched at the last word. "At first I thought you were delirious and you were asking for Liz."

"I knew who I called out to when I woke up," I explained. "I wanted my mother. I wanted you."

Her head fell against mine and I heard her exhale and swallow hard. "You don't know how much that means to me."

Esme's free hand rushed to her face, wiping at it repeatedly. I assumed she was crying and not wanting to embarrass her or ruin the moment, I didn't move or mention it. "Somehow, I think I do."

We sat there together silently for a few minutes until a knock caused us both to search in its direction. Carlisle was by the door, looking in on us. He motioned to his watch and then mouthed the word 'dinner.'

"It seems as if it's time for dinner." Esme mumbled.

"Oh joy," my voice was less than enthusiastic. "I really can't wait to get home and back to your cooking. The hospital food is less than stellar."

"Well, you are in for a treat then." Esme rose from the bench. "We have a surprise for you and Emmett."

I slowly stood, not wanting to move too quickly and cause myself to pass out and miss dinner. Even with his broken left arm Emmett would still be fully capable of eating every last bite. "Real food?"

"Close enough," Esme explained as we started toward the door. "Take out from an Italian place Alice found."

As we neared my room I heard Emmett proclaim in an almost whining tone, "But Daaaad! He's not here yet. I'm starving! Gimme something!"

No, the accident hadn't slowed down Emmett's appetite one little bit.

xoxoxo

While it seemed as if we were more than happy to put Camilla six feet under, we were doing it on our time schedule and no one else's. Her body was being held until such time that we were ready to put her to rest. Camilla had very wisely prepaid for her funeral arrangements, right down to the headstone. Everything set to her specifications except for the date because, well, who knows exactly when you're going to die?

Considering that no one liked her, I thought the pre-arranged plans were excellent on her part. Probably one of the best decisions she had ever made in her entire life. I would have been plenty happy marching over to the graveyard and helping them dig the hole and dumping her body down into it. I would watch as the dirt was thrown over her and smile as the shovel patted down the last bit of earth, forever cementing her place down below. Perhaps afterward Emmett would dance upon her grave with me.

But I guess that wasn't right, no matter how much you hated the person for what they did to you and your family. I couldn't be sad over her death, no matter how hard I tried, not that I even attempted to feel that emotion over her. Not after what she did to my father and uncle. Not after she confessed to giving me away. Not after she tried to kill me and my brother.

She did not deserve my sorrow, pity, or tears. She deserved nothing.

We did though. We needed closure. Closure that included seeing that woman buried, never able to hurt us ever again. That was the only reason we were even planning a funeral for the woman.

Emmett and I were released after three days in the hospital and on the fourth day we flew home. We were taken to the hospital in Forks by Carlisle before we even got home to have us checked out because of our concussions and flying. He must have either prearranged things or had been able to pull some strings because our wait time was minimal and we were in and out of there in no time, which was a relief because I had quickly grown tired of hospitals.

When we arrived home Bella and Rose were waiting for each of us. Bella did keep her promise and hugged the stuffing out of me and then in turn, did the same thing to Emmett. Charlie was still there, talking to Carlisle and Esme as we talked to the girls. He came over and did a weird half hug type deal that shocked the hell out of me. He told me he was glad that I was okay, but then he had to follow it up with insisting I take a defensive driver's course. He had to spoil our moment. Charlie was much more at ease with Emmett, his voice not as stilted, but no more emotional when he spoke to him.

"What's with Charlie?" I asked Bella after he left my immediate area. "He tried to _hug_ me."

"I think he was genuinely worried about the two of you," Bella said with a smile. "He doesn't always know how to express himself when he's not yelling."

When I saw Charlie open the front door, I made a mad dash for it and chased after him. It wasn't so much of a mad dash, with the concussion and all, as me walking really fast trying to catch up to him. "Um, Edward, what are you doing out here?" Charlie fidgeted when he spotted me.

"I missed you too, Charlie."

Then I hugged him. He laughed, kind of oddly in fact, and patted my back. "Maybe you should revisit the hospital."

I released him and took a step back. "I'm fine. I should be concussion free very soon."

"Bella was really worried about you."

"Yeah, I know you were, too."

Charlie cleared his throat. "I have my shot gun in the trunk."

"Have a good night, Charlie."

"You too, Englebert."

Bella and Rose were both over protective of us, hopping up to get anything that we needed. Esme sat them down and scolded them both; telling them that while we needed to take it easy, but we weren't babies and needed to do things for ourselves. No personal maid service for us.

Bella was allowed to spend the night and for that I was grateful. With all that had been going on I needed some downtime and I sensed that Bella understood that. We didn't even fool around. We hung out in my room, talking about what had happened and since I wasn't supposed to be staring at anything for any length of time, Bella read to me.

The day after that we headed back to school. Of course there were stares and questions from our classmates, many of which I did not answer. It was none of their business. Emmett and I were both excused from gym class because of any lingering effects from our concussions and were subjected to walk laps in the other half of the gym. However, since we weren't in the same gym class I found it boring as hell. Mike and Angela somehow managed to sneak out of racquet ball and joined me. I still censored what I told them, but I was happy to have someone else to talk to that wouldn't turn around what I said and use it against me. In all honesty, I hadn't realized how much I had missed both of them until they snuck through the door with huge smiles on their faces and made their way over to me.

Carlisle wanted me and Emmett to heal from some of our injuries before heading back down to California for a funeral for Camilla. His heart wasn't even in having one for her, but I was starting to think it would be good to get everything done and over with. One night I caught him alone in his study and decided to talk to him about the subject.

"Closure," he said, echoing my earlier sediments. "I couldn't stand her, I'm glad she's gone, but for some reason I am very compelled to see with my own two eyes that she's put into the ground."

"I need the same thing."

"That's good to know." He shuffled a few papers on his desk and looked at piece of paper. "We thought about having the funeral on the first Saturday in May. I cleared the date with everyone else, how about you?"

I shrugged. "It's not like I keep a calendar. It should be fine."

"Your mother was thinking…" Carlisle's voice trailed off.

"That's a very good trait."

"Smart ass." He smiled before continuing. "I know I asked you this before, but maybe I should go ahead and make arrangements for you to see Liz the week after the funeral? You need closure on that part of your life, too."

"I think-"

"I hear that's a very good trait." Carlisle smiled smugly.

"I deserved that, huh?" He nodded. "I'd like that actually. I'd like that a lot."

It looked as if I was going to be getting a lot of closure in my life very soon.

_Saturday, May 2, 2009_

I was standing in a cemetery in a monkey suit, complete with a noose around my neck for a woman who didn't want me in her life. My hand flew to my throat in a vain attempt to loosen the tie wrapped around it. Emmett had tied the sucker for me and it felt like I was being strangled ever since.

"Let me fix that for you." Esme stood in front of me with a slight smile on her face. "He did the same thing to your father once. I thought poor Carlisle was going to turn blue." Her work was meticulous and I was never letting Emmett near me with a tie ever again. Not unless I wanted to torture myself.

"Thanks, that feels so much better."

My gaze traveled to the rolling hills of the cemetery. It was a beautiful place with lush green grass, tall trees, and a gate that winded around the land. "I want to be cremated." Esme announced out of the blue.

"Really?" I asked. "I haven't thought about that for myself."

"People rarely take the time to visit cemeteries anymore," she said. "Besides, I'd rather have my ashes split up between the three of you so I can haunt you from whatever table you put me on."

"Haunt us?"

"Or watch over you." She smiled and shrugged. "Depends on what kind of adult you grow up to be I guess."

"I will remember that."

"Ah, there's Tony." Carlisle's voice interrupted our morbid conversation and we turned to the opposite direction. Since there were so few of us we had planned to have just a small ceremony at the cemetery with a man of the cloth that the funeral home suggested and then quickly bury GramBitch six feet under. We watched as Tony's rental wound through the one lane dirt road of the cemetery with the hearse and another car behind it.

I felt Bella's fingers intertwine with mine and I squeezed her hand as she took her place beside me. When Charlie agreed to let Bella accompany us I almost kissed the man. Just thinking about what he would have done if I had followed through with the action made me smile. When I playfully punched him in the shoulder and said "thanks" the man gave me the evil eye and told me to get out of his house.

You know, typical loving Charlie.

Rose and Jasper had hopped on board the travel train as well, with the excuse of giving moral support to Emmett and Alice. I had guessed that things weren't going that well with their parents and they'd rather be with my family then theirs. Even though that aspect was sad, I was glad that they were here. Like it or not, we needed them as much as they needed us.

Tony's car came to a stop behind ours the other two behind followed suit because honestly, what else were they going to do? Slam into Tony?

Doors from all three cars cracked open, people spilling from them out onto the green lawn before them. Even from a distance Uncle Tony looked like hell. Jan and my cousins, Laura and Emily, stood near his side as they walked toward us. Carlisle and Tony embraced and it appeared as if some of Tony's mood instantly rubbed off on Carlisle.

The last car had contained the man of the cloth I had previously mentioned. He came over and spoke with Carlisle and Tony in hushed tones about what he was going to say. My family members greeted each other with warm hellos and smiles and I noticed that Laura and Emily did not seem to make any weird advancements toward Emmett. I guessed it was because Rose was planted firmly at his side. Or maybe they finally realized that hitting on your first cousin wasn't the correct thing to do even if he was handsome as hell.

Our attention turned as the back door to the hearse was opened. We watched as men from the funeral parlor used a cart-like device with wheels to remove GramBitch's casket. Having not attended a funeral before, I assumed that male members of the family had carried the casket, but in our case, a cart would be so much better. I knew that none of us had any interest in carrying GramBitch over to her final resting place.

Bella's grip on my hand had gotten much stronger. "Bella, have you been lifting weights with Emmett?"

She shook her head. "Are you okay? I've been crushing your hand for five minutes now."

"I've just a lot going on inside my head right now."

Bella smiled up at me as we made our way up the slight incline. "Your head is scary enough under normal circumstances."

I tried not to laugh, not because it was an inappropriate time, but because I didn't want to draw attention to myself. "I'm so glad Charlie let you come with us."

"Yeah, me too." Bella removed her hand from my grip and wrapped her arm around my waist. "But not because I'm morbid and like funerals—far from it in fact. I knew this was going to be hard on all of you."

"How can I feel sad over the death of a woman who gave me away because of money?"

Carlisle's voice interrupted Bella's response. "Don't be. It's as simple as that." He hurried past us, toward the minister or priest or whatever he was, who was standing at the gravesite.

Bella and I stopped in our tracks and looked at each other, our brows raised. "Huh." I said.

"I will write this day down in history that your father made your speechless." Esme said as she passed on our left, just as Carlisle had done.

Let's face it, a simple 'Huh' was about as speechless as they were going to ever get me.

Following a cemetery worker, we followed as he showed us Camilla's final resting spot—on a slight hill and off to the left in a bit of a alcove-like area right on the tree line of the property. The other gravestones had the same last name etched into them and assumed we were at a family plot. Carlisle and Tony stood by their father's grave, their wives by their side. Having not known my grandfather, I did not go over and join them.

Because honestly, what was I going to say when I was over there? "Hey, grandpa, how'd you manage to hook up with such a bitch?"

Yeah, totally inappropriate, but so "me" at the same time.

We milled about, waiting at the gravesite for Camilla's body to be brought over. They did not have enough staff to push the casket up the slight incline properly and it was taking longer than expected for them to reach us. With Rose to my left on Emmett's good side, I heard him say, "If I had two good arms I'd pick the damn thing up and throw her down there just to get this thing over with already."

Carlisle cleared his throat and did a slight shake of his head toward the minister that was standing next to him. Emmett turned his head in my direction and buried part of his face in the top of Rose's head. "Sorry." I heard him mumble, but I knew he wasn't and the light in his eyes that I saw peaking over Rose's head had suggested he was smiling.

Alice stood with Jasper on Bella's right. She had never known Camilla, but was downright furious after hearing about what had happened. Like me, she didn't understand how anyone could do what they did for money. She nearly went into a full blown panic attack, but somehow Jasper had brought her out of it. Alice's gaze was glued to the ground where Camilla was going to be placed and leaning heavily against Jasper.

We waited patiently as the casket was put into place. The funeral director apologized to Carlisle, but he told them that it didn't matter. This was meant to be a quick ceremony that was haphazardly thrown together so we could say good riddance and achieve some closure. At least, that was the way I was viewing it.

When things were ready, we formed a semi-circle around the casket and listened to the minister. He spoke of forgiveness and God and how forgiveness does not come easy to most of us. Evidently he did not know my grandmother. We had no reason to forgive her. He quoted scripture which I was unfamiliar with. Honestly, I tuned him out and barely registered Bella's arm being wrapped around my waist. I stared at the casket and waited for the ceremony to be over. Unfortunately, I would not see the casket being lowered to the ground.

My fantasy of Emmett and I doing a dance over her grave had been dashed by cemetery workers.

When all was said and done, I wasn't sure if I felt any better. If this was closure, then it kind of sucked. We wandered back down to our cars and chatted about whether or not we felt any better and where we were going for dinner. Tony excused himself and headed back to where GramBitch had been placed. When I spotted the cemetery workers coming down the hill I had guessed that he needed some time alone and was going to tell her off one more time on his own.

Now, that might work for me. One more "I hate you" spat at her grave for good measure. I excused myself, leaving Bella with my family, and took the long way back over to her grave, traveling along the tree line, hoping to give Tony enough time.

Then again, he grew up with Camilla has his mother. Would any length of time cursing her out be quite enough?

I stopped and read names on gravestones that I had never heard of and read dates from before my time. Convinced I had managed to give my uncle enough time, I carried forward toward Camilla's final resting place.

Tony was still there and down on one knee. The casket had been lowered, but the hole hadn't been filled and an open grave remained. I had been surprised that he hadn't heard my arrival. I turned and spun in a circle, double checking that no one was around. Nope, we were alone.

I took a few steps forward, ready to ask Tony if he was okay, when he spoke out loud.

"I'm sorry, but it had to be done."

He evidently wasn't through and I didn't want to interrupt him. I thought I should leave, but what if he heard me now?

"It was so easy," he said. "Just two drops in your water and then it was done."

Tony ran a hand through his hair and sniffed. His strong front had been broken and he was in tears.

"I couldn't let you hurt us anymore. You had a bad heart anyway."

I tried not to breathe as I stood listening to him. Had he done something? Did Uncle Tony really…was he saying what I thought he was saying?!

He spoke again, his voice much lower and barely audible to my ears. "I had to kill you."

My brain couldn't take it. On the inside, I heard myself yelling "What?" and "It's okay!" and maybe even "You're my hero!" over and over, but none of that came out of my mouth.

Uncle Tony was the one that had made me speechless and I could never, ever tell anyone why.

Well, damn him for that one.

"Tony?"

I turned to find Carlisle standing behind me. I had been so wrapped up in what Tony had been saying that I hadn't heard my father creep up on us all stealthy-like. Tony turned and his jaw dropped at the sight of us.

There were tears streaming down his face as Tony rose to face us. Carlisle walked forward and as he passed me, his arm went around my shoulders taking me with him. He let me go before we reached Tony and then closed the short distance between them.

"Did I hear you correctly?" Carlisle asked his brother. "Was it because of you?"

"I'm sorry," Tony apologized. "I knew she'd never be through with us."

Carlisle took Tony's face between his hands. "Don't _ever_ be sorry for what you've done. You did something that I never could have."

They embraced and I felt as if I didn't belong there, but I knew I did. I walked over to them and wrapped my arms around each of them. "Thanks, Tony."

"You're thanking me?" Tony and Carlisle backed away from each other slightly, but we were still linked together.

I nodded. "She can't hurt us anymore."

"You weren't supposed to find out any of this, Edward." Tony looked away from us. "You shouldn't have been here."

"My timing evidently sucks." Carlisle grinned at my choice of words. "I take it that we have to keep this between the three of us?"

Tony needed some time to compose himself and somehow make it appear like he had not been crying because it could raise questions. Carlisle called Esme and told her that the three of us needed some time alone.

Luckily, we had rented SUV's and Esme was able to cram everyone into ours while the three of us hung back and we'd take Tony's and catch up with them at the restaurant.

Tony admitted to how he hadn't been in California just for a medical conference. He hadn't planned on attending it, but when he heard that I was going to confront Camilla on my own, he panicked. Knowing that I would insist on speaking to her myself, Tony followed us to the estate and used the tunnels in the walls to listen into my conversation with GramBitch.

"I found the most fascinating thing while in the tunnel," Tony said. "Remember, all those years ago when you helped me run away?"

Carlisle's expression changed as his features went darker, as if he was remembering something bad. "Of course I do."

Tony reached into a pocket in his suit jacket and pulled out his wallet. Opening it, he retrieved what appeared to be an older issued twenty dollar bill. "You must've dropped it."

Carlisle stared at it, a slight smile forming. "From the money I stole so you could run."

"Maybe should have it." Tony held it out to his brother. "You don't know how much it helped to get away that weekend."

"I have a better idea." Carlisle walked to the edge of the grave and motioned for Tony to join him. "She was the reason I had to take it. Let's do it together."

With the twenty dollar bill pinched between two fingers, Carlisle raised his arm in the air over the grave and Tony did the same, both of them holding the bill. They let it go and watched as it floated down into the open grave.

"She's probably rolling over in her coffin." Carlisle said, and then mimicked his mother. "How dare you waste money!"

Tony continued on with his confession and would not stop apologizing for not getting to me and Emmett on time. He had known what Camilla had sent James to do, but wanted to make sure Camilla had drank the spiked water before he left the house. Through more tears he apologized for not getting to the scene of the accident fast enough. "I saw the tractor trailer slam into the car James was in. I heard you yelling for Emmett, but I couldn't bring myself to let you know that I was there and reassure you that he was alive. I was so afraid of anyone finding out who I was. I left the scene before the cops arrived and couldn't stop thinking about you and Emmett the entire time. It was so hard to wait until I got the call about the accident so I could go to the hospital and make sure the two of you were okay."

It must have been so hard on him to have had kept all of this to himself. No wonder his moods had been downright odd lately. He probably felt guilt over killing his own mother and not helping his nephews.

"I should have manned up and came forward at the accident scene." He stared at me. "I'm sorry, Edward."

"Stop apologizing," I told him. "You might've been caught and I don't want to see you go to jail for something so many of us wanted to do. We're fine, right dad?"

Carlisle smiled at me and then made Tony look at him. "It's okay, Tony. Emmett's arm will heal in a few weeks and Edward's nose is almost healed now, right son?" I nodded and amazingly kept my mouth shut and Carlisle continued. "If Edward accepts your apology then so do I."

Tony started talking again, apologizing some more and then started breaking down for the second or third or fourth time. "Tony, it's over, it's finally over because of you." Carlisle held his brother, consoling him, as the sobs and guilt racked his body.

It took some time, but we finally managed to convince Tony that we weren't angry at him. I was completely sure that we had totally missed having an early dinner with everyone at the restaurant. There was no way in the world Emmett would have held out and waited this long for us. The three of us made our way down the hill and toward Tony's car. Another car pulled up behind us as we approached the vehicle and we immediately thought that we were in the way and blocking the road through the cemetery. The car came to a stop and the door popped open.

A man stepped out, his gaze trained in our direction. "Sorry to be blocking the path, but we're leaving now." Carlisle said to appease him.

The man rose to full height and he was tall and lean like Carlisle and Tony, but his skin tone was much, much darker. His black hair was braided into dreadlocks that fell half way down his back. Black framed sunglasses covered his eyes, the lenses blocking any view.

"I presume I'm late for the burial then." The man's voice reflected an accent I couldn't place. Perhaps European?

"Maybe have the wrong day or time?" Tony offered. "We were here to place my mother to rest."

"Camilla Cullen?" The man asked. "Is that correct?"

"Yes," Carlisle said. "Did you know her?"

"Well enough to know I didn't like her," he said. "I wanted make sure she was dead."

"She's dead, that we're sure of." Tony offered. "We're her sons and this is my nephew, can we help you?"

"I'd like to introduce myself." The man closed the car door, stepped toward us, and removed his sunglasses. His eyes appeared dark like the rest of him, but it wasn't just the color that made them seem that way. "My name is Laurent and I'm your half brother."

And for the second time that day, I was totally and utterly speechless.

**A:/N:** Didn't see that one coming now did you? Mwhahahaha.


End file.
